Costco says it will ‘vigorously resist’ protests; family attorney responds

Costco Wholesale Corporation released its first public comment Wednesday about the shooting death of Erik Scott at its Summerlin store.

The company said it has the “greatest sympathy for the family of Erik Scott, which has suffered a great loss in his untimely death,” and it “deeply regret(s) that his death occurred at our facility.”

Scott was killed July 10 outside the store after officers say he raised a gun and pointed it at an officer. The three officers who fired shots were found justified by a coroner’s jury Tuesday.

According to the statement, Costco has remained silent on the issue to allow the inquest to proceed, but released the statement because the family attorney publicly blamed the company for Scott’s death, and family and friends of Scott plan to protest at the Summerlin store, the company said.

“We have been advised that friends and family of Mr. Scott plan to protest in Summerlin this week, demanding that Costco terminate the employment of one or more of our employees who played a role in the events on that date,” the statement said. “Such actions can only be intended to inflame public sentiment in connection with planned litigation, and have no reasonable relationship to the cause of Mr. Scott's untimely death.”

The company also said it would “vigorously resist” use of private property for such protests and would take trespassers to court if needed.

Costco filed a motion Wednesday in Clark County District Court for an injunction seeking to keep possible protesters off its Summerlin property. The complaint alleges that through Facebook and Craigslist, an unknown number of people have been organizing a possible protest at the store Thursday evening.

The purpose of the alleged protest, according to the motion, is to call for a boycott of Costco and to demand the firing of the store employee who called 911 about Erik Scott's behavior July 10. The court system denied Costco’s request for a temporary restraining order, the Scott family said.

Scott family attorney Ross Goodman said Wednesday the family isn’t involved in any protests at the store.

Goodman said he first learned of people picketing the store from a Costco attorney.

However, he does hold Costco and an employee responsible for the shooting and Costco will be a defendant in the family’s federal civil rights lawsuit, Goodman said.

“Costco is primarily responsible for creating a situation and having law enforcement respond in a commando-style presence,” Goodman said. “There was no reason for officers to respond that way but for Costco misrepresenting or falsely reporting what happened.”

Goodman also said Costco might be responsible for the loss of surveillance video that may have shown the shooting. Costco employees testified that the video system was having problems before the shooting and has continued to malfunction on occasion since the incident.

Goodman said Sheriff Doug Gillespie’s response to the inquest is an attempt to “pull the wool over the public’s eyes” and the entire process has been “vintage character assassination” on Scott.

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Full text of a statement Costco released Wednesday:

On July 10, 2010, Erik Scott died tragically at the Costco Wholesale warehouse in Summerlin, Nevada, as a result of shots fired by Metro Police.

Costco has consistently refrained from any public comment in connection with the incident because of its belief that it was not appropriate for the Company to respond to questions or to allegations while the official investigation was pending. Instead, the Company cooperated fully with the proper legal authorities, including making available any and all witnesses and any other evidence that may shed light on the events on that date. Maintaining our silence has been difficult because we have the greatest sympathy for the family of Erik Scott, which has suffered a great loss in his untimely death. Although we have been the target of many unfair and unjustified allegations concerning our role in this tragic incident, we remain sympathetic to the friends and family of Mr. Scott, and deeply regret that his death occurred at our facility.

Yesterday, the testimony concluded in the official inquest proceeding, and the jury returned its verdict. We are aware of comments made to the media by an attorney for the family indicating that they intend to file suit against Costco, alleging that the Company was somehow at fault. Since the inquest was an open, televised proceeding, we will simply ask that fair-minded people draw their own conclusions about what happened and why it happened based on the evidence before the inquest jurors and based upon the verdict of that jury. At all times, our primary concern and responsibility is for the safety of our members and employees while on our premises, and our actions on July 10 were motivated solely by that responsibility.

We are making this statement now because the official inquest has concluded, and because we have been advised that friends and family of Mr. Scott plan to protest in Summerlin this week, demanding that Costco terminate the employment of one or more of our employees who played a role in the events on that date. Such actions can only be intended to inflame public sentiment in connection with planned litigation, and have no reasonable relationship to the cause of Mr. Scott's untimely death. We intend to vigorously resist any use of our private property by anyone for this purpose, and will apply to the court for relief if any such threatened trespass is attempted.

Sun reporter Jackie Valley contributed to this report.