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Shooting victim's fiancee upset over search
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JESSICA EBELHAR/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Shannon Sutton, 18, was detained and cited for resisting officers at his home on Monday. He is the brother of Sequioa Pearce, whose fiance was shot and killed by police on June 11. The family sees the latest incident as harassment. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Jun. 23, 2010 | 12:09 a.m.
Las Vegas police on Monday searched the new home of Sequioa Pearce, whose fiance was shot and killed by an officer two weeks ago.
Officers were investigating an illegal shooting they thought happened at the residence, but Pearce and her family see the incident as harassment. Their home was left in disarray by officers, who searched for weapons and ammunition and found nothing.
“We just feel like we’re being harassed,” said Pearce’s mother, Trenia Cole, 43.
After Pearce’s fiance, Trevon Cole, was shot at their apartment on Bonanza Road near Eastern Avenue while police were serving a drug warrant June 11, she temporarily moved in with her mother at a public housing complex near Owens Avenue and H Street. She said she gave the new address to police when they interviewed her after the shooting.
Trevon Cole is not related to Sequioa Pearce’s mother, Trenia Cole.
Police were near her new residence on Monday about 11:45 a.m., when a patrol officer was flagged down by a woman in the complex, police said. The woman flagged down an officer over an unrelated incident, Sgt. Andy Walsh said.
The officer then heard shots fired and saw movement at an open upstairs window at the family’s unit. Thinking that was where the shots came from, he called for backup, Walsh said.
The officers then approached the home with a bullhorn and asked for anyone inside to come out, police said.
The only person home was Shannon Sutton, Pearce’s 18-year-old brother. He was upstairs, and it was his bedroom window that was open.
Sutton, who recently graduated from Rancho High School, said that he did not know officers were knocking on the door and that he chose not to answer it. He said he came downstairs when he heard the door open. The door was apparently unlocked, and he said officers were at the foot of the stairs with guns drawn.
Police said that Sutton did not answer the door right away but that he eventually emerged. Police said they entered the home immediately afterward to check whether anyone inside was in danger.
Officers handcuffed Sutton and sat him in the back of a police car on a charge of obstructing a police officer because he would not immediately identify himself, police and Sutton said.
The rest of the family, including Pearce and her week-old daughter, returned home in time to see the incident unfold.
Walsh said officers did not need a warrant to check the home to see whether anyone inside was hurt. But he said they did need a warrant or written consent from a resident to search for guns or ammunition.
Trenia Cole said officers asked her to sign a written consent form in exchange for officers not transporting her son to jail. She felt that put her in an unfair position.
Walsh said that it’s not uncommon for officers to use that sort of leverage.
“If they believe there’s a gun in the residence, we would certainly offer what we could to get the consent to search,” he said.
He added that having a resident sign a consent to search form is faster than getting a search warrant. While police wait for a warrant to be approved, the residents are not allowed inside.
Trenia Cole said she had nothing to hide and signed the card.
“All I ask is that you don’t tear up my house,” she told them.
After police were done searching, family found dresser drawers open, clothes strewn about and furniture moved away from the walls. Police did not find any weapons or ammunition.
Sutton was released with a citation for resisting a police officer. The citation noted that Sutton resisted by moving his handcuffs from behind his back to in front of his body “after several times officers told him don’t do it.”
Sutton said that he snaked the handcuffs down his legs as officers were releasing him from the back of the patrol car and that an officer only once told him not to do it after he already had done it.
Although the family said a sergeant at the scene defused the situation, the incident has angered the family, who will bury Trevon Cole in Los Angeles on Thursday. The 21-year-old was shot once on June 11 by officer Bryan Yant, who has been placed on routine paid administrative leave.
Yant was serving a search warrant after undercover detectives alleged they bought marijuana from Trevon Cole three separate times. Pearce said he was unarmed when police shot him. The Clark County coroner’s office has not determined a manner and cause of death for him, and an inquest has not been scheduled.
The family’s attorney, Andre Lagomarsino, said he had several concerns with Monday’s incident.
“I believe them arresting Sequioa’s brother was unnecessary and unwarranted,” he said. “The search was unwarranted and unnecessary and turned up nothing.”
He also said he thought the incident might be related to Trevon Cole’s death. Investigators recovered marijuana from Trevon Cole’s apartment, but they did not recover weapons.
“It seems like it might be related to the Cole incident,” he said. “Either this is just a crazy coincidence, or they’re fishing.”
Pearce said Monday that her baby is healthy, but she still hasn’t had a chance to grieve in the past two weeks.
“To me, it’s still surreal,” she said.
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.
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Really, once you click submit, go take a walk, get some fresh air, and then come back to the computer and read what you wrote. I think some of you are just making this stuff up. Stuff like "4. Don't have illegal weapons. 5. Don't hang with people who have illegal weapons.". Where in any of this did you read that the cops found illegal weapons. Anyone who thinks that it is OK to go into a house, guns drawn, and "detain" someone who was inside minding their own business because you "heard gun fire from that direction" must be nuts. If I was an 18 year old black man who just had someone I knew killed by the police and I saw them come in my front door I'd run like mad. So the act of going into a home where no crime was committed and scaring the kid gives the police the right to arrest him? I doubt that really meets the intent of the constitution or our founders. And this idea of leverage is nuts. Leverage means the the cops can lie to you. They can say that they have evidence they don't and they can threaten you with actions that they don't intend to carry out all to get you to agree to something that isn't in your best interest. Oh, and if you get caught lying to them then you are forever labeled as an evil person who can't be trusted. Cops lie - trust us, we are here to help you. You lie - you are evil and can never be trusted. In a neighborhood near me someone reported that they "thought they saw someone with a gun run into that house". Within minutes the roads around the house were blocked off and the police were there with all of their toys. Funny thing was, after lobbing grenades into the house and busting down the door it turned out to be empty. Next time you hear a heavy knock on your door, just save some time, unlock the door, and bend over.
@Green- you are delusional, try not stealing vehicles and those felony car stops will magically disappear.
Black people are all criminals
@El-
Imagine you're driving late one night on a dark, two lane Nevada highway halfway between no place an not much else when you pull over after seeing red and blue flashing lights in your rear-view and then hear this-
"Exit your vehicle now, with your hands in the air and your back to me! Do not look at me! Now, place your hands on your head and walk backward, slowly to the sound of my voice! Good, now come around here to the passenger side of the vehicle away from the road and get down on your knees! Do not look at me! Shut up! I don't need a reason to stop you! I'm the police!"
Bang. Thank you for your cooperation.
Here is a novel idea, try complying with the police. I am glad to hear Ms Pearce's baby is healthy, I can look forward to supporting her for the next 18 years via social services.
Did these officers KEEP their Oath to the Constitution and uphold the Bill of Rights??
For those mentioning the original incident, this is a seperate incident which happpened a couple days ago. Officers we talking to someone else when they heard shots coming from the direction of this family's house. The officer on scene didn't even know who they were when he looked up and saw the kid starting out the window at him.
These people are worthless scum. Their family member sold drugs to cops after impregnating his young girlfriend. During the search warrant he didn't cooperate and got himself shot. Now the family is trying to make it up that they are being harassed by the police. They need to give it up already and start taking responsibility for their own actions.
"dresser drawers open", "clothes strewn about", "furniture moved away from the walls." That's tearing up a house?
Lessons Learned:
1. Don't sell drugs.
2. Use or hang out with people who sell drugs.
3. Don't be uncooperative with a police officer.
4. Don't have illegal weapons.
5. Don't hang with people who have illegal weapons.
Yes, I realize there are some bad cops and I guess, to some of you, there may be some "good" drug dealers. However, as we have come to see in this country, majority rules. The majority of the police are not bad and the majority of the drug dealers are bad. I'm not someone is trying to get rid of the dirt on the street.
Do you know why I'm not afraid of a cop? Because I try really, really, really hard NOT to break the law.
I would love to see what all of you who b*tch about the police would do if the police department was disbanded and you were left to deal with these low life gutter trash thugs on your own. That would be some funny stuff.
If failure to provide ID is grounds for police detainment can someone please explain the problem with AZ's immigration law. I know it is off topic but why should illegals be excluded form providing ID?