Good morning.

Welcome to today's police fatality public fact-finding review concerning the death of Edward Brooks on March twelfth, two thousand and twenty-four.

I am Mandy McKeller and I will be presiding over today's proceedings.

This 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 Mr.

Pesci, who will present to 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 Girling has been appointed as the embudsman.

She represents both the public and Mr.

Brooks family.

She will have the 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 cause of death shall be rendered.

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 Cherrier.

And were you involved in the investigation of the officer involved shooting that occurred on March twelfth, twenty twenty-four?

I was.

Could you explain your involvement?

Sure.

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

And what is OIS mean?

All right, could you take us through your investigation?

Have you prepared a PowerPoint slide?

Yes, I have.

Could you walk us through that, please, Detective?

Sure.

The incident occurred on March twelfth, two thousand fourteen, or two thousand and twenty-four, under the North Las Vegas case number twenty-four zero three one two zero zero four eight six one.

The reporting party stated that they heard six gunshots coming from inside the apartment number four.

The NLVPD call taker also reported hearing gunshots in the background of the 911 call.

Officer Townsley, an officer Calderon responded to the scene.

Officer Townsley contacted a witness who stated that somebody possibly shot a dog in apartment number four.

A black male adult later identified as Edward Jamar Brooks exited apartment number four 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 first involved officer was Officer Kenneth Townley.

His badge number is 2642.

His higher date was January 21st, 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 3 Charlie 8.

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 Kenneth Kevin Calderon, badge number 2840.

His hire date was February 7th, 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 two Baker one.

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 for he was 43 years old at the time of the incident.

He was a black male listed as 6'2, 300 pounds, and he was a resident of 2215 East Nelson Avenue apartment number four.

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 15, 16 hours, the North Las Vegas police dispatch received a 911 call to respond to 2215 East Nelson number four.

At 15, 18 hours, Officer Calderon arrived on scene.

At 1521 hours, Officer Townsley arrived on scene.

At 1527 hours, Brooks exited apartment number four 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 1527 and 45 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.

911 police fire a medical.

Hi, um, I need someone who comes to the apartment.

Someone is shooting in apartment four.

Oh, we know that someone's shooting.

Uh the hearing in the background.

Two Baker, two to Baker 1D 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.

All right, 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.

If I can get a long eye near, I believe it's small and arrowhead.

Let's see if we can get a better vantage on this apartment.

Hey, North Las Vegas, please drop the gun, man.

Drop the damn gun.

Drop the gun.

I'm telling you, man, drop the gun, please.

Don't make me hurt you.

I don't want to hurt you.

Drop the gun.

I'm getting last Morton, drop the gun.

You're gonna get shot.

You're gonna get shot.

Drop a gun!

Shots fired, shots fired!

Suspect's down!

Suspect is down!

Roam medical!

Hey, North Las Vegas, please!

Hey, drop the gun, man!

Drop the damn gun!

Drop the gun!

I'm telling you, man, drop the gun, please!

Don't make me hurt you!

I don't want to hurt you!

Drop the gun!

I'm getting last Warren, drop the gun!

Drop a death gun!

The following videos are from Officer Calderon's body war and 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 want to move the car and then we'll back up?

Yep.

Apartment four on our left hand side over here.

Hands!

Hands!

Watch out.

I don't want to hurt you.

Why is it cross fire?

Hey, South Units, watch crossfire.

We got a BMA with a gun.

Watch the crossfire.

Get the gun away.

Officers Townsley's firearm.

Officer Townsley was issued a department issued Glock M4 LE 223 caliber rifle.

It was equipped with an Ogden Tactical Light, Eotech Red Dot site, one 30-round magazine loaded with 27 department issued 223 223 rounds.

Officer Townsley did not fire his duty handgun.

An ammo countdown of Officer Townsley 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 223 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 17 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

It was equipped with a streamlight TLR 1 tactical light.

He had three 17 round magazines, one in the chamber, 52 department issued 9mm 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 9mm cartridge cases were recovered from the scene from Officer Calderon's firearm.

The investigation showed Officer Calderon fired two times.

The deceased handgun.

The seat was armed with a Bursa Thunder.380 caliber combat.

The 380 cavalry semi-automatic handgun.

The magazine was empty.

However, there was one round in the chamber.

The firearm was recovered in Brooks' 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 one is, and they go further back to apartment four where the suspect came out.

This is a 2D diagram that CSI conducts after doing a like a scan of the overall evidence.

It's showing some of the items are marked over the cartridge cases were located from the officers where the decedent was found and other items of evidence that were located.

This is a 3D diagram from the Leica scan, just like the 2D diagram.

This one is showing an estimate of where the two officers would be standing when they engaged Mr.

Brooks.

Again, this is back to a 2D diagram.

The circle part in 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 2D diagram of where Officer Calderon's cartridge cases were located and an 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 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 Carl Calderon stated Brooks had a gun in his right hand and saw him walk out of the apartment into the courtyard.

Officer Calderon stated he believed or he saw Brooks walking towards them with a gun in his hand.

Officer Calderon stated he heard Officer Townsley call out, hey, 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, in 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, Townsley fired first, and then I fired 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 optopsy was conducted of Mr.

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 torsal area, and one gunshot was to the right side of Brooks's neck.

Brooks toxicology reported show he had the presence of fincyclodine, which is PCP.

According to the lab report, in low doses, PC PP PCP can elicit visual disturbances, drowsiness, agitation, hallucinations, aggressiveness, increased pulse rate and blood pressure, increased respiratory rate, and hypothermia.

He also had uh Delta 9 and 11 hydroxy, which is uh THC derivative of marijuana.

Charges had Brooks survived.

During the investigation, it was discovered that Brooks 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 firearm, ex-felony fail 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 uh decedent's firearm, that was a bursa?

Correct.

All right, and then you said that there was one round in the chamber?

Correct.

And when you speak of a round, is that a live uh round that has not been expended?

That is correct, yes.

And the remainder of the magazine was empty?

Yes.

All right, you just talked to us about there were three individuals that were killed?

Correct.

All right, and then were there cartridge cases recovered around 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 expended cartridge cases, not from the officers, but from that bursa?

From the decedent's gun to the cartridge cases found at the scenes of the deceased people.

They're a match.

They're a ballistic match to that firearm.

How many cartridge cases were found?

In apartment number four, which is the original apartment, there was five, and in apartment number two where the two females were discovered was three.

Okay.

So could that magazine hold that number of rounds?

Yes, it could.

All right.

If 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's that done?

How's that done?

Yes.

So you would load up, you would load up your magazine with your eight, you would cycle the gun, put it 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, and now you have nine rounds.

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

Yes.

Uh, did medical respond to the scene?

They did.

Uh, do you know how long it took from the shooting until the time where medical gave attention to the decedent?

Approximately 10 to 12 minutes, they had the officers had to make sure that they had to clear all the other apartments and they were looking, 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 um, did they being medical go to the decedent's body first?

Correct, yes.

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

They did, yes.

Okay.

Um additionally, we saw some video there when he was walking, and we have the statements from the officers.

In any of the video, do we ever see um the decedent with his arm completely perpendicular with the firearm pointed forward?

No, we do not.

Okay.

However, um in the video, do we see that he has the uh firearm in his arm in his hand?

Yes, we do.

And from the perception of the officers, did uh they indicate or lease officer callder on that he thought that the the firearm might be coming up?

Correct, yes.

Okay.

No further questions.

Thank you.

Ms.

Scarling, you can proceed.

Thank you.

Um, detective, let's go back to when we have the 911 phone call.

The information that um was conveyed was that there was shooting coming from apartment number four.

Correct.

That is the amount of information that the officers had when they actually were proceeding to the scene.

Initially, yes.

Okay.

And when they arrive on scene, they do get some additional information, and that information was that um potentially a dog had been shot in apartment number four.

Correct, yes.

Okay.

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

Yes, they had one other statement from that person they stopped at that that there was somebody I I think the court was was tripping in apartment number four.

Okay.

There's no further description that this was a man, a woman, um, how big the person was, what their race was, what they were wearing, any other descriptors?

None were given, is that correct?

That is correct, no.

Okay.

And actually, Officer Calderon encountered two people when he first arrived on scene.

One which was um taken into custody for a period of time, a woman, and then there was a man who um, or at least a male, that then left the scene and was not apprehended.

Correct, yes.

Okay.

Um did either of those people have any firearms on them?

These are those two people?

No, they did not.

Okay.

Um did any of the officers we see we had body cam from Officer Calderon as well as Townsley.

Um, there were other officers on scene.

Do you know how many?

At that particular at 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?

Is what on the opposite side through the the courtyard.

Correct, 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, no officers went into the courtyard.

Okay.

And it's fair to say that um officer Townsley, I let me go back.

You did um investigating this, you did look at all of the body cam of both of those officers as well, other as well as other officers, is that correct?

Correct, yes.

Okay.

Um, in looking at that body worn camera, um, it was officers were trying to determine even which was apartment four.

Is that correct?

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

That officers were trying to determine which apartment was actually apartment four.

Correct, yes, there was some confusion on that.

Okay.

Um, and so when Mr.

Brooks left the apartment at that point in time, it was not necessarily clear that that was a part apartment four to Officer Townsend.

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.

Okay.

Um I'm gonna go back to the statements.

You watched the body worn camera.

Um, 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, after once I was on scene, we we watch them.

Okay.

I going from a reports, I just wanted to clarify.

Um both of the officers agreed to make statements to detectives.

Yes, they did.

Okay.

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

No, they no, they did not.

Okay.

Um when they made those statements, did they come with anyone?

Um, and potentially an attorney as well as a union rep.

Yes, they come with their union representative, which is their attorney.

Okay.

Who was 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.

Okay.

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 got give commands.

Now Officer Townsley's commands were drop drop the gun, in essence, or 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.

I mean, we try to, I mean, obviously it's a dynamic situation.

I think Calderon, Officer Calderon is trying to alert other people around him, what he sees, and that's the reason why we vocalize a lot of stuff too.

Is Townsley Officer Townsley was the first to say drop the gun, which you could see from Calder Officer Calderon's body worn camera?

That alerted him.

This is a changing situation.

And so he comes out with saying hands.

I can understand it could be a confusion, but at the end of the day, it's two uniformed police officers.

And he had a gun.

Correct.

I'm gonna go into the description of Mr.

Brooks from both of these officers as well as other uh witness officers that were interviewed.

Um included terms like robotic thousand yard stare.

Um that he Mr.

Brooks was not saying anything, um, giving a weird eerie feeling.

Um I think Officer Townsley specifically stated um it was a calm, plain demeanor um that seemed weird in that situation.

Correct.

Um we've watched the video.

It does not appear that Mr.

Brooks is making any uh response to anything being yelled at him.

Is that fair?

Yes, that's fair to say.

Okay.

Do the officers have any um 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, uh both officers have the entire department actually has annual training on um dealing with healing hearing impaired people or deaf people.

It's it's once a year we do a class to kind of help us understand what how to handle those type of situations.

And what would that include in this kind of situation where commands are being given and no response from Mr.

Brooks in this case?

Can you 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, I I 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 are in a you know got responded to a shots-fired call.

They're encountering a person, and again, they're fully marked uniforms.

Um, 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 you could 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 top of my head right now that to tell you the exact response.

I I just I don't remember the exact training as far as that in this situation, what would be the steps for them to do other than what what they did do?

Um Mr.

Pesci asked you about the fact that in the video, um Mr.

Brooks is um walking, not running.

Is that fair towards the running towards the officers?

Um, and that we do not see him uh 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, um, 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.

Okay.

So his Mr.

Brooks' responses at that point of time may have not been um voluntary.

If someone's been shot, their actions may not be voluntary after that.

Correct, that's right to say.

That he stated he didn't this could be this the suspect that they were looking for.

Um, it is in fact that he also stated that it 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 you've got the fire.

Yes, there was the the verbal commands.

Okay.

No further questions at this time.

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 two point one two 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 Girling was appointed at the by the Clark County manager as the embudsman to represent the public and Mr.

Brooks' family.

Ms.

Gurlin was given an 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 Miss Girling and myself copies of the law enforcement investigation regarding the death of Mr.

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 dot Clark County NV dot gov.

That concludes the police fatality public fact finding review and the death of Edward Brooks.

Thank you.