DA clears Metro Police officers involved in three 2011 shootings

By Tovin Lapan

Friday, May 18, 2012 | 12:38 p.m.

After reviewing three separate Metro Police shootings from last year, the Clark County district attorney’s office announced today that it determined all of the officers involved acted lawfully.

“In these three cases, the police officers faced armed suspects who posed an immediate threat to the officers and the public,” District Attorney Steven Wolfson said in a statement. “While these were tragic events, the decedents in all three of these cases forced the officers to take the action they did.”

Wolfson’s office is reviewing all officer-related deaths as the coroner’s inquest hearings have been delayed by legal challenges.

The last inquest hearing was held in September 2010, and there is a backlog of 19 cases, according to the district attorney’s office.

The cases in which the officers were cleared today involved the fatal shootings of Tory Manvilla, Jaime Padilla and Mauricio S. Hernandez.

Manvilla, 49, broke into a home on Feb. 15, 2011, ran through the home with a knife and locked himself in a bathroom. After police arrived, Manvilla barged out of the bathroom with the knife and was shot by two officers, police said.

Officers shot Padilla, 21, on Feb. 23, 2011, after an armed standoff that lasted for more than an hour.

On March 8, 2011, Hernandez, 23, who had been linked to a shooting earlier that day, was in a bar when an officer entered and Hernandez drew a gun, authorities said. He pointed at the officer, and the officer shot Hernandez, officials said.