A funeral will take place on Tuesday afternoon for a 17 -year -old Idaho child who was shot dead by the police earlier this month.
The service for Victor Pérez will be carried out at 3 pm local time in Cornelison Funeral Home & Creation Services in Pocatello, said his aunt, Ana Vázquez, in a Facebook post. The funeral is open to the public.
Pérez, whose family said he was autistic and that he had cerebral palsy, the police shot him nine times in the courtyard of his family’s Pocatello house after a neighbor called to inform someone with a knife, according to the officials.
The person called said that other people seemed to be trying to get the Pérez knife.
Vázquez previously told NBC News that the family was having a barbecue and Pérez found a knife that family members had hidden. Pérez’s sister was trying to get his knife, according to Vázquez.
She said that the family was not in danger and that Pérez was not a threat to them.
Police chief Roger Schei said the officers had repeatedly ordered the teenager to release the knife. He said Pérez stood up and advanced to the officers while holding the gun.
“In this case, two individuals were a few feet from an armed individual and not satisfied,” Schei said at a press conference on Monday. “The risk was immediate and the situation quickly evolved.”
The video recorded by a spectator showed the officers running home and opening fire. There was a chain link fence between Pérez and the officers, the video showed.
Vázquez said that the officers did not take the time to find out what was happening before he was shot. She said Pérez was having a mental health crisis at that time.
Pérez was taken to the hospital in critical condition after the shooting. The family took him out of life support on Saturday, a day after he was declared a brain dead, Vázquez said. On Monday a forensic autopsy was completed, said Bannock County Forensic doctor.
The four officers involved were immediately placed on administrative license, a standard procedure.
The mayor’s office said that criminal and internal investigations were launched, and the task force of critical incidents of Eastern Idaho is carrying out an external investigation into the shooting.
The four officers involved were immediately placed on administrative license after the incident, which is the standard procedure after a shooting, the city said.
