The family of a Colorado teenager filed a lawsuit Thursday, accusing an official correctional officer of using deadly violence “recklessly” and “without warning” when he shot dead the teenager in his backyard as a group of friends fled the scene. breaking into a house.
The indictment filed in Denver District Court comes four months after the death of Alexis Mendez-Perez, 16, and more than two months after Denver District Attorney Beth McCann refused to file charges against the shooter, Desmond Manning, 46, who ‘ t a state Department of Corrections criminal investigator at the time. He was no longer at the department with effect from July, a spokeswoman confirmed.
McCann said she believed there was not enough evidence to force a jury to convict Manning of murder beyond a reasonable doubt and prove he was not acting in self-defense.
But Mendez-Perez’s family said it was not fair to Manning when he chose to confront the teenager, who they say was not a threat, and shoot at him in Manning’s backyard.
The case has sparked protests in Denver against racial injustice and calls for “defeating the police.”
A second teenager who shot Manning in the leg is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The teenager and the Mendez-Perez family are seeking compensatory damages.
“We want justice – not for them to be fired immediately,” said Ana Mendez, an older sister of Mendez-Perez, about aldermen using deadly force.
The Mendez-Perez shooting erupted just after 1 a.m. on April 23 when he and four other high school friends were suspected of breaking into an empty rental home in northeast Denver, according to court documents. The family said in their lawsuit that the friends knew no one lived there and were looking for partying.
Manning and his family lived directly behind the house. Police records say his wife had said goodnight to her son and was about to go to bed when she saw about five men breaking in and calling 911.
She woke Manning, who told investigators he then grabbed a gun from a locker, made sure the house was secured and waited for police to arrive.
Manning’s wife then called 911 a second time after she saw the group in the neighborhood.
After Denver police arrived on the scene, the group dispersed into the vacant house, according to police records, with Mendez-Perez and a friend, Andy Munoz, climbing a fence in Manning’s backyard.
Manning, waiting with his pistol, lit his porch and fired five times as Mendez-Perez and Munoz fled, according to the lawsuit.
Mendez-Perez was hit in the back and Munoz, 18, in the back of his left leg, said the complaint, adding that Manning “did not warn anyone or say anything before he shot.”
Manning later told investigators he felt threatened and “did not want these men in my house” where his wife and children were inside.
“I thought, you know, like fighting when flight comes to mind, and like I did not want to attack,” Manning said, according to police reports.
He told investigators he was not sure if he actually hit one. “They all kept going. No one fell. No one stumbled. No one slowed down. They just kept coming and going,” Manning said.
Police arrested Manning at the scene on suspicion of second-degree murder, but he was later released without bail. Prosecutors later ruled that there were no criminal charges.
Manning could not be reached for comment Thursday and a lawyer for him in his criminal case did not immediately respond to a request from NBC News.
Charlie Crichton, a lawyer representing the family of Mendez-Perez and Munoz, said the group of friends were unarmed and did not intend to harm anyone when they broke into the vacant house.
He said that although they had been criminally convicted, their actions did not justify being shot and one of them killed.
“Breaking into an empty house doesn’t have to be a death sentence,” Crichton said. “We have the criminal justice system for high school children who break into an empty house.”
He added that Manning “could have done police their job” instead of shooting.
The status of the criminal cases against Munoz and the other juvenile suspects involved was not immediately clear.
Mendez-Perez’s name has been raised in protests against police brutality, and his sister has said she will continue to plead in his name.
“My brother is gone,” Ana Mendez said. “I do not understand how anyone can take a life and then nothing happens.”
