Officer cleared in slaying during tavern shootout

Struggling on crutches, Metro Police Officer Dennis Devitte made his way to the jury box to shake hands with the jury after they took just 18 minutes to find him justified in killing a robber during a shootout inside a crowded bar.

Not 10 feet away, Emilio Rodriguez's family stood and watched the officer, many shaking their heads. One simply said, "It wasn't justified."

The jury listened to about four hours of testimony from more than a dozen witnesses at Thursday's coroner's inquest into the shooting death of Rodriguez by Devitte, who was off duty at the time.

Devitte, an officer for nearly 20 years, testified he felt he had no other option but to pull the .25-caliber handgun from his back pocket and confront the man he says was running through the bar and firing at customers.

Devitte, 41, and Rodriguez, 19, stood close enough to shake hands, and each fired at the other until their guns were out of bullets inside Mr. D's sports bar at about 1:20 a.m. on Dec. 5, according to testimony.

Rodriguez was shot eight times including a bullet that went into his chest, passing through both lungs and his heart. Devitte was also shot eight times, mostly in the lower part of his body.

"He was just running through the bar shooting. There was nothing else I could have done," said Devitte, who sat on a chair in front of the witness box with a folding chair in front of him so he could prop up his wounded leg. "In no way would there have been a way to disarm this subject."

Jurors and three of Rodriguez's family members were guided by Detective James Vaccaro through a tape of grainy surveillance video from six of the bar's cameras.

From the video jurors saw how three masked men with guns entered the back door of the bar at Oakey and Rainbow boulevards. One of the robbers tried to jump over the bar, but patrons pulled him down to the floor and held him there. Another robber -- Rodriguez -- ran into the middle of the bar. The third robber, spotting his cohort on the ground, fired a shot into the air and then at two of the customers holding the first robber on the ground.

Four of the six wounded customers -- Kamron Thomas, Pat Richards, John Santraster and Robert Alsip -- testified at the hearing. Although the versions had some variations of the robbers' orders each heard someone yell something similar to "This is a robbery, get on the floor."

Rodriguez's family and friends said after the verdict they didn't condone or dispute that Rodriguez was inside the bar for a robbery, but they contend he wasn't trying to shoot anyone. They say he was just trying to get out of the bar once the other robber started firing.

"How is it he shot (Devitte) all those times and still shot at people," said Robert Rivera, Rodriguez's brother, who was allowed to watch the bar's surveillance tapes at the hearing. "The tapes don't show him shooting at people. You can't see anything on that."

Police found 23 shell casings on the floor of the bar, 10 from the .40-caliber handgun Rodriguez had, nine from Devitte's gun, three from a .380-caliber handgun and one from a 9 mm handgun. The last two are believed to be from the robbers who fled and have not been apprehended.

Kevin Collins, a cousin of Rodriguez, testified that the afternoon before the bar robbery he showed Rodriguez his .40-caliber Glock handgun that was in the trunk of his car. Collins said he and Rodriguez smoked some PCP and then he went to sleep for awhile before getting dressed for work as a security guard.

"I realized my gun was missing out of my trunk," Collins testified. "I went into the house and paged Emilio twice, but he didn't call me back."

There were six other off-duty officers in the bar at the time of the robbery, including three who were playing in a band that was preforming that night, but Devitte was the only officer who was armed. Devitte testified he always carries a weapon when he's off-duty.

Metro officers are not required to carry weapons while off-duty, but they are allowed. However, according to the department's policy, "Off-duty members who anticipate consuming alcoholic beverages are advised not to carry a firearm."

Devitte said he had two to four beers over a two-hour period, but he said he never finished any one of the beers. His blood alcohol content was 0.075. In Nevada, 0.10 is legally defined as intoxicated.

The level of alcohol Devitte had in his system at the time of the shooting was described by Dr. Sheldon Green, a Clark County pathologist, as a modest amount.

"There would be little if any obvious change in a person," Green said in describing that level of alcohol in a person in general and not specifically how that amount would necessarily affect Devitte. "In other words, the guy's not falling down drunk by any means."

But Bernie Urrea, a friend of Rodriguez, contended after the hearing that Devitte shouldn't have been carrying a gun if he was drinking in a bar.

"But he's got a badge, so they said it was justified," he said.

After Rodriguez stumbled backwards from the gunshot wounds, he turned and ran out of the bar. Officer Jack Pope, who was off-duty, testified he chased after Rodriguez and saw him stumble outside, fall to his knees and then fall face down on the ground.

Pope said he kicked the gun out of Rodriguez's hand and pulled his right arm behind his back. Rodriguez's left arm was underneath his body and Pope said he ordered Rodriguez to pull his left arm out.

"I hit him in the face three times, maybe six times. I don't know," Pope testified. "His left arm was under him. I didn't know what he had in his hands."

Pope and another officer who was at the bar both testified they didn't know that Rodriguez was injured because he was wearing a heavy winter coat and they could not see any obvious gunshot wounds. He was breathing right before he was handcuffed, Officer Michael Ireland said.

"When I took him into custody, he took one deep breath and then quit breathing," Ireland said.

The punches to the head didn't lead to Rodriguez's death. There would have been little that could have done to save Rodriguez's life, Green testified.

"There is no first aid for a bullet to the heart," Green said. "He might have had a slight chance if he was shot in the hospital and went right into surgery."

Devitte still faces surgery on his knee and said he was on pain medication -- including when he testified.

He said if it was just a robbery, he wouldn't have pulled his gun. But as soon as the shots started, he testified, he had to act.

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