Officer cleared in fatal shooting

A Metro Police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing for fatally shooting an unarmed, basketball-toting man whom he believed was a drug dealer.

A coroner's jury deliberated nearly an hour Friday before declaring that the April 12 slaying of 32-year-old John Perrin at the hands of Officer Bruce Gentner was justifiable, although one of the seven jurors disagreed.

While the verdict closes the door on the potential for criminal prosecution in state court, the issue appears far from resolved.

Brent Bryson, the attorney for Perrin's family, hinted that a civil lawsuit will be filed and he didn't rule out the possibility that federal authorities will be asked to take a look at the incident.

Gentner, 27, testified that he stopped Perrin in a dimly lit area near Tropicana Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard because he believed he had seen a drug deal occur moments before and because Perrin matched the description of a man involved in an October burglary.

What could have been a routine stop turned ugly, Gentner said, when Perrin glared at him and "his hand dove into his waistband for what I believed was a firearm."

"I'm yelling, 'Show me your hands' (but) he drew and pointed and I fired what I believed was four or five times," Gentner said. "The first volley of rounds had no affect on him."

"He stopped, looked up and lunged toward me," the officer continued, explaining that he fired what he thought was four or five more times.

In reality, Gentner fired all 14 rounds from his .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, hitting Perrin six times. Three of those were in his back and another was through his side, piercing both lungs and likely causing death.

"At the time I was in fear for my life," Gentner told the jury. "I thought I was going to be shot and possibly killed."

But Perrin had no gun and the only object police found nearby was a jar with a black lid holding a chemical commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Police also found a small quantity of marijuana and methamphetamine in Perrin's pockets and an autopsy showed he had a large amount of methamphetamine in his system.

There were conflicts in the testimony.

While Gentner said he yelled at Perrin repeatedly before firing, all but one witness to the incident said they heard shots and then the officer yelled.

Gentner testified that he was only about 10 feet from Perrin when the shots were fired in an area illuminated only by the flashing red and blue lights of the patrol car.

But testimony indicated that blood spatters were found 40 feet from the car where the spent casings from Gentner's pistol were lying.

Bryson said he was "shocked" by the jury verdict.

"It's a tragedy, a travesty for the citizens of Las Vegas and the citizens of the world who visit Las Vegas," the attorney said. "In essence it's open season on the citizen population if you make a move an officer doesn't like."

"It's wrong, horribly wrong," said the dead man's mother, Connie Perrin. "Somebody should be held accountable for the loss of my son."

The coroner's jury, however, said that shouldn't be Gentner.

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