A screenshot from Pocatello police body camera footage moments before Victor Perez was shot on April 5, 2025. | City of Pocatello
BOISE — The Idaho Attorney General’s Office will not file charges against four Pocatello police officers who shot a teenager with developmental disabilities this spring.
The officers fired 14 times in fewer than two seconds, with 12 of the bullets hitting 17-year-old Victor Perez. The police were called to his home on April 5 for a report of a disturbance. The teenager died a week later after doctors amputated his leg and he was clinically declared brain dead.
The shooting garnered attention from around the world. Cell phone video of the incident has been viewed millions of times, and protests have been held across the state with participants demanding justice for Perez. Members of the community expressed outrage at City Council meetings and demanded the officers be arrested and charged.
The Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigated the shooting, and Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney Ian Johnson asked the office of Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.
In a 12-page letter sent to Johnson on Wednesday morning, Idaho Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye acknowledged the shooting was a tragedy and explained why the officers will not be charged.
“The State would be unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the four officers who discharged their weapons were not justified in using deadly force,” Nye wrote. “We will thus not file criminal charges against the officers.”
READ: Attorney General letter announcing no charges in Victor Perez officer-involved fatal shooting
RELATED | Victor Perez attorney says ‘litigation is going to start in earnest’
The shooting
Perez was nonverbal and had developmental delays, autism, aggressive behavior, abnormal gait and other medical conditions, according to his autopsy.
“His family tried to keep him away from knives for his protection and the protection of those around him. But on April 5, 2025, he managed to gain access to a large kitchen knife with an approximately 9-inch blade,” Nye wrote.
The afternoon of the shooting, surveillance video from a nearby business showed Perez’s grandfather, mother and 16-year-old sister struggling with him in the backyard. A neighbor began recording with his cell phone and called 911, explaining that a man who appeared to be intoxicated was wielding a knife and trying to stab other people.
RELATED | Pocatello releases video with bodycam and security footage of Victor Perez shooting
The struggle between Perez and his family lasted around 13 minutes, according to Nye’s letter, and his sister “spent much of that time physically trying to control Perez by herself … without a weapon of her own and without any serious injuries to herself, Perez, or anyone else present.”
The 911 dispatcher requested that four officers respond, more than usual for a typical disturbance. The only information the officers had was what was relayed to them from the dispatcher. They did not hear the actual 911 call and were unaware of Perez’s disabilities or age.
None of the officers were given an address for the disturbance prior to arriving at the scene, according to Nye, and dispatch was working off the information provided by the 911 caller who said the address was “behind 702 North Main.” Perez’s residence was on North Harrison.
Officers from the Pocatello Police Department had responded to Perez’s home in the past, but none of them were present at the time of the shooting. Nye said AG investigators learned during the follow-up investigation that the Pocatello Police Department does not flag residences for mental health issues. Even though police had responded to calls involving Perez and his mental health before April 5, the home was not flagged in a system.
Nye provided a computer-aided dispatch report in his letter to Johnson showing what information the officers knew:
This computer-aided dispatch report shows the police communication surrounding the shooting of Victor Perez. | Idaho Attorney General
The officers each drove their own cars. Three of them were armed with Glock handguns, the other carried a beanbag shotgun.
They rushed to the backyard where Perez’s grandfather was on the outside of the fence leaning against the gate. He said, “No, no, that’s OK, that’s OK,” according to Nye’s letter. Perez’s sister, who was a few feet away from her brother with their mother, extended her arms toward the officers and shouted.
Officers quickly approached the fence, pointed their guns at Perez and yelled for him to put the knife down.
“He got up on his knees, lifted the knife in his left hand above his head, and pointed the blade toward the sky. He fell forward and caught himself using his hands. With his hands on the ground in front of him, he put his feet on the ground behind him. He stood up and took a step toward the officers. As he stepped, he put both hands on the knife in front of his body with the blade pointed up and toward the officers,” Nye wrote.
That’s when all four officers fired their weapons. Investigators estimated they were standing around 12 feet away from Perez, who was on the other side of the fence.
“The officers simultaneously fired a single volley of 14 bullets and a beanbag. All shots were fired within the span of less than 2 seconds. Perez’s autopsy report described 12 gunshot wounds,” Nye wrote.
Police performed life-saving measures before Perez was rushed to Portneuf Medical Center, where he died nearly a week later.
Victor Perez in the hospital following his shooting by police. | Courtesy photo The investigation
Following the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigation, the Attorney General’s Office conducted 15 additional interviews. The officers involved in the shooting spoke with the task force but declined to be interviewed by AG investigators.
“Instead, they provided audio recordings and transcripts of interviews they completed with a third party,” Nye wrote.
The Bannock County coroner sent Perez’s autopsy to the attorney general, and Spencer Fomby, a use-of-force expert, was hired to review the investigation.
Nye said the decision not to file charges was based on these six factors:
Under Idaho law, the only facts that can be considered when determining whether charges can be filed are what the officers knew at the time of the shooting or what they reasonably believed. The 911 caller, dispatcher and the officers did not know Perez’s age or disabilities, Nye said, and were told only that an intoxicated man was trying to stab people with a knife. The officers moved to the backyard fence because they believed an intoxicated man was trying to stab others. With hindsight and knowledge of Perez’s disabilities, Nye acknowledged keeping their distance would have been better, but at the time, they thought immediate action might be needed to protect lives. The officers’ decision to place themselves at the 4-foot-tall fence to protect others made them vulnerable to a knife attack from someone standing immediately on the other side of the fence. Idaho law does not require the officers to back away from the fence before using deadly force, and one officer remained there, exposed to a possible knife attack, when the shooting began. Not knowing about Perez’s disabilities, the officers saw him as a threat. He was ignoring commands, moving toward the officers and holding a knife in both hands with the tip pointed toward them at about 12 feet away. A use-of-force expert, who has issued opinions in favor of officers and against them in the past, concluded that, based on the limited information available, a reasonable officer would have seen the man as an immediate threat of death or serious injury when the shooting began.
“This is a tragic and heart-rending situation, and our sympathies go out to the family and friends of Victor Perez,” Nye wrote. “It is especially tragic when viewed considering all the facts and circumstances available to us after the event. If the officers had known what we now know, our conclusions might be different. But, as previously stated, our decision must be based only on what the officers actually knew or reasonably believed at the time. And our decision must be based on the laws in effect.”
Nye noted that the law does not require officers to use less lethal options or retreat when deadly force is justified. He stated that Idaho is a stand your ground state, meaning anyone exercising self-defense or defending another can stand their ground “by use of all force and means which would appear to be necessary to a reasonable person in a similar situation.”
“The State would have to prove that the officers committed a crime when they shot and killed Perez and that the use of lethal force was not justified. The State would have to prove both the elements of the crime and the absence of a justification beyond a reasonable doubt,” Nye wrote.
What’s next
The Attorney General’s investigation only applies to whether the officers should be charged. They are now cleared from criminal action, but there is still ongoing civil litigation over the shooting.
Additionally, the Pocatello Police Department conducted an administrative investigation to determine whether the officers followed department policy and whether they should have any consequences due to their behavior. Results of that investigation have not been released.
Nye also included answers to 10 questions as part of his letter, which we are included below.
=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https://www.eastidahonews.com/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”>