Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley talks to reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.
Deputies warned an 18-year-old man to put his hands up and under no circumstances touch the weapon in his lap eight times before an officer-involved shooting in the Gardnerville Ranchos on Nov. 7.
John Brown was killed after he reached for the weapon, which turned out to be a pellet gun replica of a Sig Sauer P320, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
On Tuesday, Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley conducted a press conference to present body camera footage of the incident.
“We are only able to react to what we know at the time,” Coverley said. “The mother, the man at the carwash and the deputies on scene felt it was a real gun. We are only able to react to what we know at the time.”
Brown started the evening by getting into an altercation with a neighbor at the home near Pit Road in the Gardnerville Ranchos.
Brown’s mother said she returned home and Brown told her she had to leave the state because he’d killed someone.
“My son just pulled a gun on me,” she told dispatchers on the evening of Nov. 6. “He just got home and has a gun and he’s on drugs right now.”
On a 911 call she was out of breath after he’d knocked her down.
“Please hurry, my son has never done something like this,” she said.
She could be heard on the 911 call following his progress as he tried to start a vehicle and then ran to the car wash, pointing the weapon at a man and trying to drive off in his vehicle.
Security footage showed him revving the engine of the vehicle but not getting it into gear before he fled again.
After deputies arrived, they started looking for him and a 16-year-old who was with him.
At 1:52 a.m. he was found by deputies sitting in a vehicle. A deputy could be seen shining a flashlight into the vehicle on body camera footage and spotted the weapon on his lap.
Deputies issued multiple orders and warnings for Brown not to touch the firearm.
“if you touch the gun, I’m going to shoot you,” one deputy could be heard saying around a minute after they issued the first orders. “Reach for that gun and you’ll get shot.”
As one deputy opened the door and went to get Brown out of the vehicle, Brown picked up the pistol and deputies opened fire.
During the incident one deputy was shot in the hand by what may have been another officer.
All the deputies involved except the injured man have returned to duty.
The injured deputy is recovering, though he has several more surgeries to go before he's fully healed, Coverley said.
The incident is still under investigation by the Carson City Sheriff’s Office, which includes determining whether Brown was actually intoxicated in some way.
