Death threats made against officer

Keith Paul

Thursday, March 1, 2001 | 11:25 a.m.

Death threats were made Wednesday against the North Las Vegas Police officer who shot and killed a Western High School student who reportedly brandished a toy gun Tuesday.

"We've had several people call or contact members of our department advising they've heard word of threats against the officer," Lt. Art Redcay, a department spokesman, said. "We are taking the threats very seriously."

Police have not identified any person who has made a threat against the officer who shot and killed 16-year-old Billy Ray Finks Jr., but are investigating the reports of the threats. Police have taken precautions but would not reveal what actions were taken.

Police say the officer followed a stolen car driven by Finks with a 15-year-old Western High School student as a passenger to a dead end street Tuesday about 8:50 a.m. The officer ordered the teens to stay in the car, but the pair got out.

The officer saw a gun in Finks' hand and ordered him to drop it. When he didn't, the officer fired two shots, one hitting the teen in the chest, police said.

Finks' parents, however, said Wednesday they talked to the 15-year-old who was with their son, and the boy gave a different version of the events.

"He told us that Billy didn't have anything in his hands when he got out of the car," said Sherry Finks, Billy Finks' mother. "He never had a gun. Never even had a toy gun."

Police recovered a chrome-colored toy gun next to Finks' body.

"We do have people who place the driver with the (toy) gun prior to any contact with the North Las Vegas Police Department," Redcay said.

Police this morning offered to show both the Finks and the other boy's mother a videotaped statement the 15-year-old passenger gave to police after the shooting. Sherry Finks said she has no interest in seeing the tape today.

"The boy came to me and told me what happened," she said. "They are trying to say my child is a bad child. They are trying to say he was trying to rob someone with a toy gun. No child their right mind would rob someone with a toy gun."

Sherry Finks said her son was on probation for six months for stealing cigars from a store, but he hasn't been in trouble since.

Sherry and Billy Ray Finks Sr. are struggling with the death of their son and the conflicting information the 15-year-old passenger wrote in a statement for them and what the police are saying.

Sherry Finks said her son didn't steal a car, but was simply borrowing a car from a friend.

"My son wasn't a violent child," she said. "I didn't allow him to hang out with gang bangers or wear any kind of (gang) colors."

The passenger, who was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, wrote in the statement for the family that Finks got out of the car with his hands in the air and appeared scared.

"My baby was shaking cause he was scared," Sherry Finks said. "He shot my son for no reason. He shot him in cold blood. My son wouldn't have gotten out of the car with a toy gun in his hand."

The deadly encounter started when a man on a bicycle rode up to officers at Cheyenne High School and said a driver of a brown car that just pulled into the parking lot ran him off the road. The officers, who were at the school on a tip of possible gang activity, checked the car and found it was reported stolen Monday.

The car pulled out of the parking lot about 8:40 a.m. Tuesday, and an officer broadcast a description of the car. The 23-year-old officer started following the car at normal speeds without his lights and siren on. The officer followed the car until Finks stopped on Roberta Lane, a dead-end street off Decatur Boulevard, police said.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury will determine if the officer's actions were criminal, excusable or justified. The officer, who has been with the department for a year, is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the inquest. His name was due to be released this morning, but police are withholding his name because of the threats.

As for the threats, Sherry Finks said she wants justice, not harm to the officer.

"I want him punished, but I don't want someone to kill him or mess with this man's family," she said. "I want justice for my son. I want the truth. My son shouldn't have been killed like that."