Police Fatality Public Fact-finding Review - Regular Meeting

Good morning. Welcome to today's police fatality public fact finding review concerning the death of Edward Brooks on 03/12/2024. I am Mandy McKellar, and I will be presiding over today's proceedings. Review is being held because the Clark County District Attorney's Office has made a preliminary determination that no criminal prosecution of the officers involved in the death of Edward Brooks is appropriate. Clark County Ordinance chapter 2.12 requires public review following such determination.

This is not a trial. For the purposes of today's proceedings, it is to present the public with the essential facts surrounding the death of Edward Brooks. Chief deputy district attorney, mister Pesci, will present today's fact finding review on behalf of the district attorney's office. He will determine the witness or witnesses to be called. The ordinance does not provide subpoena power on my behalf and does not allow for any other party to call witnesses.

Gwen Gerling has been appointed as the ombudsman. She represents both the public and mister Brooks' family. She will have opportunity to ask question of the witness or witnesses. The procedure for questioning witnesses shall be informal with a view providing the public with the relevant information regarding the use of force. The rules of evidence shall not be strictly enforced.

Members of the public observing this review may submit proposed written questions on the form located in the back of this room and present it to one of the officers. I will then ask the questions unless I determine it is irrelevant, redundant, or an abuse of the review process. At the conclusion of this review, no formal determination regarding the manner or cause of death shall be rendered. Additionally, this is going to the following material could be presented that could contain graphic images and content. Your discretion is to be advised. Does anybody have anything to add?

No, thank you.

Okay. So state may proceed.

Thank you very much. Detective, could you please give us your name?

Detective Paul Charrier.

And were you involved in the investigation of the officer involved shooting that occurred on 03/12/2024? I was. Could you explain your involvement?

Sure. I was one of the lead investigators in the OIS shooting.

And what does OIS mean?

Officer involved shooting.

Alright. Could you take us through your investigation? Have you prepared a PowerPoint slide?

Yes. I have.

Alright. Could you walk us through that, please, detective?

Sure. The incident occurred on 03/12/2014 or 2024 under North Las Vegas case number 240312004861. On Tuesday, 03/12/2024, at about fifteen sixteen hours, North Las Vegas police officers were dispatched to the area of 2215 East Nelson Avenue, Apartment Number 4, in reference to report of someone shooting a gun. The reporting party stated that they heard six gunshots coming from inside the Apartment Number 4. The NLVPD call taker also reported hearing gunshots in the background of the 911 call.

Officer Townsley and officer Calderon responded to the scene. Officer Townsley contacted a witness who stated that somebody possibly shot a dog in Apartment Number A black male adult, later identified as Edward Jamar Brooks, exited Apartment Number 4 with a gun in his right hand. Officer Townsley identified himself as the police and gave Brooks verbal commands to drop the gun. Brooks ignored the verbal commands and continued to advance towards officers. Officer Townsley and officer Calderon discharged their weapons, striking Brooks seven times.

Brooks died on scene. This is a overview of where the shooting took place. The arrow is pointing to Apartment Number 4. That is the building of 2215 East Nelson in North Las Vegas. This is another crime scene photo of the scene, showing the the two cones marking on the the slides are showing where officer Calderon was standing essentially and where officer Townsley was standing.

The first involved officer was officer Kenneth Townley. His badge number is 2642. His hire date was 01/21/2020, and the time of the call, he had four years of service. His assignment was patrol, swing b, South Area Command, and his call sign was 3Charlie8. He was operating a marked patrol vehicle, wearing a full patrol uniform with body worn camera, and agreed to be interviewed by detectives.

The second officer involved was officer Kevin Calderon, badge number 2840. His hire date was 02/07/2022. At the time of the call, he had two years of service. His assignment was patrol days b south area command, and his call sign was 2Baker1. He was operating a marked patrol vehicle wearing a full patrol uniform with body worn camera.

He also agreed to be interviewed by detectives. The decedent was identified as Edward Jamar Brooks. He is four he was 43 years old at the time of the incident. He was a black male listed as six two three hundred pounds, and was a resident of 2215 East Nelson Avenue, Apartment Number 4. He had multiple felony convictions for possession of cocaine for sale in 1998, 2008, 2012, and 2013.

He had parole violations in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2012, and possession of a stolen vehicle and evading in 2006, and assault with a deadly weapon in 2007. He was arrested for murder but was not convicted in 2000. Timeline of the events. At fifteen sixteen hours, the North Las Vegas police dispatch received a 911 call to respond to 2215 number 4. At fifteen eighteen hours, officer Calderon arrived on scene.

At fifteen twenty one hours, officer Townsley arrived on scene. At fifteen twenty seven hours, Brooks exited Apartment Number 4 with a gun in his right hand. Officer Townsley identified himself as the police and gave Brooks verbal commands to drop the gun. Brooks ignored the verbal commands and continued to advance towards officers. At fifteen twenty seven and forty five second hours, officer Townsley and officer Calderon discharged their weapons, striking Brooks seven times.

The following two recordings are a shortened portion of the original 911 call placed to the North Las Vegas police department and the radio traffic afterwards.

Four. Good job, think. Units four thirty four Charlie four twenty two fifteen East Nelson. Two two one five East Nelson, Unit Number 4. Break. The truck continue. All we know is that someone's shooting. They can hear in the background two baker two to baker one being around.

Detective, let me interrupt you for just one second. We just heard two recordings. The first of the two, was that someone calling in to 911?

Correct. That was the original 911 call.

Alright. And then the second, who was the voice that was heard? Was that someone with the police department?

Correct. That was the dispatcher broadcasting the call.

Okay. Thank you. Please continue.

The following videos are from officer Townsley's body worn camera. The first depicts the events as they occurred in real time from the time of his arrival at the scene through the time he discharged his weapon. The second video is the same incident with added pauses.

Viewer discretion is his advice.

If I can get a long eye near I believe it's small and arrowhead to see if we can get a better advantage on this apartment. Hey. North Las Vegas, please. Hey. Drop the gun, man. Drop the damn gun. No. Drop the gun. No. I'm telling you, man. Drop the gun, please. Don't make me hurt you. I don't wanna hurt you. Drop the gun. I'm get last warning. Drop the gun. You're gonna get shot. You're gonna get shot. Drop the gun. Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect's down. Suspect is down. We're on medical. Hey.

North Las Vegas, please. Hey. Drop the gun, man. Drop the damn gun. No. Drop the gun. No. I'm telling you, man. Drop the gun, please. Don't make me hurt you. I don't wanna hurt you. Drop the gun. I'm getting last warning. Drop the gun.

The following videos are from officer Calderon's body worn camera. The first video depicts the events as they occurred in real time from the time of his arrival at the scene through the time he discharged his weapon. The second video is the same incident after officer Calderon fired his weapon.

Do you wanna move a car and then we'll back up? Hey, south units. Watch crossfire. We got a VMA with a gun with a gun.

Rifle. It was equipped with an Ogden tactical light, EOTech red dot sight, one thirty round magazine loaded with 27 department issued two two three rounds. Officer Townsley did not fire his duty handgun. An ammo countdown of officer Townsley's weapon was conducted. Officer Townsley had a total had 27 total cartridge cases cartridges in his magazine.

The countdown showed he had 21 cartridges. Six two two three cartridge cases were recovered from the scene from officer Townsley firearm. The investigation showed officer Townsley fired six times. Officer Calderon's firearm officer Calderon was issued a Glock seventeen nine millimeter semiautomatic pistol. It was equipped with a Streamlight TLR one tactical light. He had three seventeen round magazines, one in the chamber, 52 department issued nine millimeter rounds total. A countdown of his weapon was done. Officer Calderon had a max ammo capacity of 52 cartridges. The countdown showed he had 50 cartridges. Two nine millimeter cartridge cases were recovered from then seen from officer Calderon's firearm.

The investigation showed officer Calderon fired two times. The decedent's handgun. The decedent was armed with a Bursa Thunder point three eighty caliber combat, the three eighty caliber semiautomatic handgun. The magazine was empty. However, there was one round in the chamber. Chamber. The firearm was recovered in Brooke's right hand and later moved away from him by officers. Again, this is another picture of the scene. This is the apartment. If you're looking at where those two cars are, that's where Apartment 1 is, and they go further back to Apartment 4 where the suspect came out.

This is a two d diagram that CSI conducts after doing a LICA scan of the overall evidence. It's showing some of the items are marked where the cartridge cases were located from the officers, where the decedent was found, and other items of evidence that were located. This is a three d diagram from the LICA scan, just like the two d diagram. This one is showing an estimate of where the two officers would be standing when they engaged mister Brooks. Again, this is back to a two d diagram.

The circled part on this one is showing where officers Townsley's cartridge cases landed in an approximate position of where he was at the time of the shooting. This is the two d diagram of where officer Calderon's cartridge cases were located in approximate distance of where he was standing at the time of the shooting. Both officers agreed to be interviewed. Officer Townsley took a position officer Townsley stated the following. Officer Townsley took a position of opposite of the immediate action team to have a better angle on the apartments.

Officer Townsley saw Brooks exit Apartment Number 4 with a gun in his hand down to his side. Officer Townsley stated, quote, I saw the gun in his hand, and I instantly thought, okay, this might be our suspect. He had a very calm, plain demeanor. It was it was weird. It was it was scared it scared me how calm he has was given the situation. He kept walking, did not care, and it was committed, end quote. Officer Townsley stated he gave Brooks verbal commands of, quote, put it down, put the gun down, and you're gonna get shot, end quote. Officer Townsley stated Brooks had no response to the verbal commands. When Brooks made it about halfway towards them, officer Townsley stated he, quote, engaged Brooks. Officer Townsley stated he fired four to five shots to Brooks.

After shooting, officer Townsley stated he saw Brooks fall to the ground. Brooks was still holding the gun and was given more commands to drop it. Officer Townsley joined the IAT, and they approached Brooks, and he secured the gun. Officer Calderon was interviewed. Officer Calderon stated that he was setting up the IAT when he saw Brooks. Officer Calderon stated Brooks had a gun in his right hand and saw him walk out of the out of an apartment into the courtyard. Officer Calderon stated he believe or he saw Brooks walking towards them with a gun in his hand. Officer Calderon stated to hear officer Townsley call out, hey or quote, hey. He's got a gun, end quote. Officer Calderon heard officer Townsley give Brooks commands to, quote, drop the gun, drop the gun, end quote.

Officer Calderon stated Brooks wasn't listening to any of the commands that they were giving him. Brooks continued walking towards officer Calderon. Officer Calderon stated, quote, I was scared. I don't know at what point he's gonna raise that gun. If he's gonna raise the gun raise it, is he gonna stop? Is he gonna turn around? Is he going to go into another room? I was scared at that point, end quote. Officer Calderon stated as Brooks got closer, he could see Brooks' right hand start to come up. Officer Calderon stated, quote, I'm looking right at him, and that's when we start.

I know that he fired first, and then I fired after after him. And after and after he fell, he still had the gun, end quote. Officer Calderon perceived that after firing his second shot, Brooks went down, so he stopped firing. An autopsy was conducted of mister Brooks and the following is from the coroner's report. Cause of death was listed as multiple gunshot wounds.

Brooks was shot a total of seven times. Six gunshots were to Brooks' center torso area, and one gunshot was to the right side of Brooks' neck. Brooks toxicology reported showing he had a presence of phencyclidine, which is PCP. According to the lab report, in low doses, PCP can elicit visual disturbances, drowsiness, agitation, hallucinations, aggressiveness, increased pulse rate and blood pressure, increased respiratory rate, and hypothermia. Hypothermia.

He also had delta nine and eleven hydroxy, which is THC derivative of marijuana. Charges had Brooke survived. During the investigation, it was discovered that Brooke shot a dog, injuring it, and also shot and killed three females while at Apartment 2215 East Nelson prior to the OIS. Had Brooks survived, his charges would have been three counts of murder with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a protected person, ex felon in possession of a fire arm, ex felony me, failure to register, burglary with a deadly weapon, animal abuse, resisting an officer while in possession of a firearm.

Detective, let me ask you. Going to the, decedent's firearm, that was a Bursa? Correct. Alright. And then you said that there was one round in the chamber? Correct. And when you speak of a round, is that a live, round that has not been expended?

That is correct. Yes.

And the remainder of the magazine was empty? Yes. Alright. You just talked to us about there were three individuals that were killed?

Correct.

Alright. And then were there cartridge cases recovered around their those bodies?

Yes. There was.

Were those cartridge cases compared to the bursa firearm that was in the decedent's hand?

Yes. It

was. What were the results as far as the extended cartridge cases, not from the officers, but from that bursa?

From from the decedent's gun to the cartridge cases found at the scenes of the deceased people, they were they were a match. They were ballistic match to that firearm.

How many cartridge cases were found?

In Apartment Number 4, which is the original apartment, there was five. And in Apartment Number 2, where the two females were discovered, was three.

Okay. So could that magazine hold that number of rounds?

Yes, it could.

Alright. You have a magazine, let's say it has a capacity of eight, can there still be one put in the chamber? So you could have eight plus one, so to speak.

Correct. Yes.

Okay. How is that done?

How is that done? Yes. So you would load up you would load up your magazine with your eight. You would cycle the gun, put one into the chamber, take the magazine back out. We call it topping off, putting one more back into the magazine, and you enter that back into the gun, now you have nine rounds.

In the video, we saw the police approached the decedent and retrieved the firearm that we're speaking of. After that, was medical called?

Yes.

Did medical respond to the scene? They did. Do you know how long it took from the shooting until the time where medical gave attention to the decedent?

Approximately ten to twelve minutes. The officers had to make sure had to clear all the other apartments, and there was obviously mass casualties there, and so they were still clearing the apartments, and they had to make it safe in order for medical to come in.

Okay. And then did they, being medical, go to the decedent's body first?

Correct,

yes. And then did they proceed through the remainder of the apartments looking for the other three decedents?

They did, yes.

Okay. Additionally, we saw some video when he was walking, and we have the statements from the officers. In any of the video, do we ever see the decedent with his arm completely perpendicular with the firearm pointed forward?

No. We do not.

Okay. However, in the video, do we see that he has the firearm in hand?

Yes we do.

And from the perception of the officers, did they indicate a police officer called around that he thought that the firearm might be coming up?

Correct, yes. Okay.

No further questions.

Ms. Garling, you can proceed.

Thank you. Detective, let's go back to when we had the 911 phone call. The information that was conveyed was that there was shooting coming from Apartment Number 4. Correct. That is the amount of information that the officers had when they actually were proceeding to the scene?

Initially, yes.

And when they arrive on scene, they do get some additional information, and that information was that, potentially a dog had been shot in Apartment Number 4?

Correct, yes.

Okay. And at this point, that is the amount of information that they

have. Yes, they had one other statement from the person they stopped at that there was somebody I think the court was tripping in Apartment Number 4.

Okay. There's no further description that this was a man, a woman, how big person was, what their race was, what they were wearing, any other descriptors? None were given, is that correct?

That is correct, no.

And actually, Calderon encountered two people when he first arrived on scene. One which was taken into custody for a period of time, a woman, and then there was a man who or at least a male that then left the scene and was not apprehended?

Correct, yes.

Okay.

Did either of those people have any firearms on them?

Either of those two people? No, they did not. Did

any of the officers we see we had body cam from Officer Calderon as well as Townsley. There were other officers on scene. Do you know how many?

Right when the shooting took place, there was, I believe, at least three additional officers, maybe four.

Okay. And the view that we're seeing from the body worn camera of the two officers I just stated, there actually were additional officers on the back side of the apartment complex.

On the same side as the officers?

The opposite side, Correct, through the

yes there was.

Okay. At any point in time prior to the shooting of Mr. Brooks, did any officers go into the courtyard?

Prior to the shooting, no officers went into the courtyard. Okay.

And it's fair to say that, Officer Townesley, let me go back, you did, investigating this, you did look at all of the body cam of both of those officers as well as other officers, is that correct?

Correct,

yes. Okay. And looking at the body worn camera, was officers were trying to determine even which was Apartment 4. Is that correct?

I couldn't hear you. I'm sorry.

That officers were trying to determine which apartment was actually Apartment 4.

Correct, yes. There was some confusion on that.

Okay. And so when Mr. Brooks left the apartment, at that point in time it was not necessarily clear that that was Apartment 4 to Officer Townsley or Officer Calderon. Is that fair?

That's fair to say, correct, yes. Okay.

So they just encountered this as the first person in the courtyard that they've now encountered?

Correct.

I'm going to go back to these statements. You watched The Body More on camera, would it be fair to say prior to arriving on scene, to do a walk through of the scene?

Did I watch it prior to arriving on the scene?

Yes.

No. Once I was on scene, we watched them. Okay.

Going from a report, I just wanted to clarify. Both of the officers agreed to make statements to detectives?

Yes they did.

Had they watched their body worn camera prior to making those statements?

They did not.

When they made those statements, did they come with anyone, potentially an attorney as well as a union rep?

Yes, they come with their union representative, is their attorney, who is also an attorney.

Do either of those, the attorney or union rep, have access to the body worn camera prior to the interviews with either of these officers?

I don't think they do, no. Is

it fair to say that Officer Townsley and Officer Calderon, at the points in time when they saw Mr. Brooks did have the ability to take cover, in essence something to go behind, either a wall or a vehicle.

That's fair to say, yes. Okay.

We hear Officer Townsley give commands to Mr. Brooks, and we also heard Officer Calderon give commands. Now, Townsley's commands commands were drop the gun, in essence were the primary, and Officer Calderon's were hands.

Correct.

Is that fair? That could be a little confusing to someone if we're getting multiple commands at the same time?

It could be. Mean, we try to I mean, obviously, it's a dynamic situation. I think officer Calderon is trying to alert other people around him what he's seeing. That's the reason why we ize a lot of stuff too is Townsley officer Townsley was the first to say drop the gun, which you could see from officer Calderon's body worn camera. That alerted him. This is a changing situation, and so he comes out with sane hands. I I can understand it could be confusion, but at the end of the day, it's two uniformed police officers, and he had a gun.

I'm gonna go into the description of Mr. Brooks from both of these officers as well as other witness officers that were interviewed included terms like robotic, thousand yard stare, Mr. Brooks was not saying anything, giving a weird eerie feeling. I think Officer Townsley specifically stated it was a calm, plain demeanor that seemed weird in that situation.

Correct.

We've watched the video. It does not appear that Mr. Brooks is making any response to anything being yelled at him. Is that fair?

Yes, that's fair to say.

Okay. Do the officers have any, either of these officers have any specific training through North Las Vegas Police Department or anything else regarding dealing with someone who is either deaf, hard of hearing, or appears to be in that situation, as everyone described this as being, in essence, odd?

Sure. Yes, both officers have the entire department actually has annual training on dealing with hearing impaired people or deaf people. It's once a year we do a class to help us understand how to handle those types of situations.

And what would that include in this kind of situation where commands are being given response from Mr. Brooks in this case?

What are you trying to ask,

I guess? What tactics are officers trained on in regards to handling someone who does not appear to be hearing what they're saying?

Well, think in this situation, it's a little bit different than your standard traffic stop with somebody who's impaired or hearing impaired, obviously. You have two officers here who responded to a shots fired call. They're encountering a person, again, they're fully marked uniforms. This person's an adult. It's not a child. They obviously know what the police are, and they have a gun. And whether they can hear or not, I would I would assume that you would still understand that if two police officers are pointing a gun at you and are verbalizing something, whether you can certainly tell that they're yelling at you to drop the firearm.

I guess my question would be more is what is the training initially when verbal commands there does not seem to be a response from the subject in regards to verbal commands.

I don't recall at the top of my head right now to tell you the exact response. I don't remember the exact training as far as that, in this situation, would be the steps for them to do other than what they did do.

Mr. Pesci asked you, about the fact that in the video Mr. Brooks is walking, not running. Is that fair?

He's walking, not what?

Running. Towards the officers. And that we do not see him, Mr. Brooks, actually raise the firearm up to a 90 degree angle. Correct. And that would be the 90 degree angle would be up and actually pointed towards the officers.

Correct. We do not see that, yes. Okay.

While Officer Calderon did say that he thought at some point it was coming up, at that point, when Officer Calderon fired his service weapon, Mr. Brooks had already been at least fired at, if not shot. Is that fair?

Yes, that's fair to say, yes. So

Mr. Brooks' responses at that point may have not been voluntary? If someone's been shot, their actions may not be voluntary after that?

Correct, that's fair to say.

And we saw that in the interview with Officer Townsley that he stated he didn't this could be the suspect that they were looking for. It is in fact that he also stated that at that point in time he did not know if Mr. Brooks was a victim or the subject that they were looking for. Is that fair?

Correct, yes.

Okay. So it's just an unknown entity, they see the gun, and eventually fire.

That's an unknown entity, but he's also not following their commands, and then they fire.

Yes. There was the verbal commands. Okay. No further further questions at this time. Any follow-up?

No, thank you.

This public fact finding review oh, I'm sorry, is there any questions from the audience? Okay. Not hearing any questions, this public fact finding review was held because the Clark County District Attorney's Office made a preliminary determination that no criminal prosecution of the officers involved in the death of Edward Brooks is appropriate. Clark County ordinance chapter 2.12 requires public review following such a determination. The purpose of today's hearing is to present the public with the essential facts surrounding the death of Edward Brooks.

Gwen Gerling was appointed by the Clark County manager as the ombudsman to represent the public and mister Brooks' family. Miss Gerling was given an opportunity to ask questions and provide the public with relevant information regarding the use of force in this case. I was appointed by the Clark County manager as presiding officer to preside over this public review. I too was given the opportunity to ask questions and provide the public with relevant information regarding the use of force in this case. Prior to today's public review, the Clark County District Attorney's Office provided Ms.

Gerling and myself copies of the law enforcement investigation regarding the death of mister Brooks. The documents provided by the prosecution are considered to be public record. If you missed any portion of this review and would like to obtain a recorded transcript, a video of the entire proceeding is available on the Clark County website at www.clarkcountynv.gov. That concludes the police fatality public fact finding review and the death of Edward Brooks. Thank you.