Former police officer demanding change after shooting death of son
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - On Saturday night, there will be a protest in downtown Las Vegas. It comes after the death of a 19-year-old shot and killed by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers last month.
Their demand: end the police practice of no-knock warrants which have been controversial nationwide. Isaiah Williams was sleeping on the couch in a friend’s apartment when a no-knock warrant was executed. Williams exchanged gunfire with police.
Five officers fired a total of 23 rounds, one officer was shot multiple times, and 19-year-old Williams was killed.
“It’s been really hard, some days I have really really bad days and some days I have okay days, a lot of breaking down and crying,” said Latia Alexander, mother of Williams. Alexander shared she just got his ashes this week and his goal was to join the military. Alexander is a former police officer with the City of East Cleveland.
“Isaiah was a very loving boy... He loved to cook... He loved to build things, he just graduated from high school,” Alexander added.
Williams was not the target of the warrant during the predawn raid on the apartment on South Nellis Blvd. on Jan. 10. Metro was looking for a murder suspect who was not there. Williams happened to be sleeping on a couch inside.
Alexander claimed body camera footage reveals a flash bang grenade went off directly next to her son’s head and believes he was disoriented.
“Isaiah definitely did not intentionally start shooting at police... He was definitely woken up out of sleep... He had no clue what was going on, he’s 19. He doesn’t know anything about flashbangs or raids or anything like that,” Alexander contended.
“We don’t believe that he could hear see or had any orientation as to what was happening,” explained Tenisha Freedom. Freedom is one of the organizers of Saturday’s protest and maintains Williams should never have been in the deadly situation.
“Nevada joined in putting out restrictive laws specifically in regard to no knock warrants after George Floyd and after Breonna Taylor and what we see in SB50 is that it is kind of what we call ‘softball,’ legislation with no teeth,” said Freedom.
Freedom argues in order to save black lives, changes need to be made, changes that have been demanded of Nevada lawmakers before.
“We actually do want to see that these types of warrants are completely banned at this point there is too many losses of life. There is too much terror that is being inflicted into these communities. If they would have listened to some of these additional requirements… Isaiah would be here today,” Freedom argued.
FOX5 reached out to Metro to ask for a statement about Saturday’s protest but so far have not heard back. The organizers and Alexander invite anyone to attend the rally & demonstration. It will start at 7 p.m. at Container Park.
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