Hours before Victor Perez's funeral on Tuesday, Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced that he'd be reviewing the findings of the law enforcement investigation into the 17-year-old's death.
Victor was shot by Pocatello police on April 5 outside his family's home. The shooting was caught on multiple videos which have since gone viral, attracting the attention of the national media.
Victor's funeral was set for 3 p.m. Tuesday in Pocatello. The service was open to the public.
Labrador announced that he'd be investigating Victor's death in a Tuesday morning news release.
“As with all such matters, the Office of the Attorney General will conduct a thorough and impartial review once the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force completes its investigation,” Labrador stated in the news release. “Given the seriousness of the matter and the ongoing investigation, our office will not be making further public comment at this time.”
The news release didn't mention the timeline for when the attorney general's review would be completed and a final determination made on whether the Pocatello police officers who shot Victor were justified in their actions.
Labrador said he decided to handle the review at the request of Bannock County Prosecutor Ian Johnson.
The Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force, led by the Bannock County Sheriff's Office, is expected to have its investigation into the shooting completed in a couple of weeks, at which point it will be turned over to Labrador.
Johnson had said that he planned to turn over the investigation to another county prosecutor to make a final determination of whether the shooting was justified to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest because his prosecutors frequently work with Pocatello police on cases.
Johnson then decided to instead ask Labrador to review the matter.
Pocatello police shot Victor after responding to a reported physical disturbance at his family's home. When officers arrived on the scene, Victor was in his family's fenced-in yard holding a large knife. The officers shot Victor from the other side of the chain-link fence when he took two steps toward them while holding the knife, according to the videos of the incident.
Victor had autism and cerebral palsy and his family said he was having a mental health episode at the time of the shooting. Pocatello police thought based on a 911 call they received from witnesses that they were responding to a fight involving a possibly inebriated individual armed with a knife.
Police were on the scene for 20 seconds before they opened fire on Victor, according to videos of the incident. It appears from the videos that police took 12 shots at Victor. His family said he was struck nine times by the gunfire, though police haven't confirmed this, stated how many officers shot at Victor or provided the names of the officers.
Victor was rushed via ambulance to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello following the shooting.
Victor's family announced that he was clinically brain dead on Friday. On Saturday morning he was removed from life support and died a short time later.
The shooting has caused an uproar among local residents, hundreds of whom participated in a vigil at the hospital and a protest at City Hall on Saturday.
Armed Pocatello police watched the protest from a nearby roof after the FBI reportedly confirmed a credible threat toward law enforcement at the event.
