Witness says man killed by police always carried gun

Jace Radke and Heather Rawlyk

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

A Clark County coroner's inquest was meeting today to determine if an undercover North Las Vegas Police officer was justified in shooting a man in April while trying to serve a narcotics search warrant.

The case stems from Detective Clint Ryan shooting and killing Cipriano Lopez, 44, on April 27 after Lopez allegedly fired shots at officers as they served the warrant at the 500 block of North 15th Street near Bonanza Road and Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas.

Ryan fired back, and Lopez later died.

Police later found 100 grams of methamphetamine and 144 grams of marijuana in the apartment along with measuring scales and other paraphernalia.

This morning the inquest jury heard testimony from a NLV police sergeant., from Lopez' neighbor, and a woman who was in Lopez' apartment at the time of the incident.

Sgt. James Jackson told the jurors that Officer Ryan was the point man in a seven-officer SWAT formation that approached Lopez' apartment door.

"I think on the fourth or fifth time that we hit the door with a battering ram it came open," said Jackson, who was in charge of the special narcotics team serving the warrant. "I then heard gunshots and looked at the door and then saw the muzzle blast from Ryan's AR-15 rifle."

Jackson said that it all happened very quickly and he could not tell if the first shots he heard sounded different from the shots fired by Ryan's rifle. He did say that he heard shots prior to seeing the muzzle flash from Ryan's rifle.

Jessica Avila, whose apartment was directly across a courtyard from Lopez' apartment, said she was outside her apartment door with her three children when the police approached Lopez' apartment.

"I saw the officer in front taking all the bullets, and I went numb," Avila said. "After that, I just focused on getting my kids in the house. I couldn't really see the guy in the apartment shooting, but I caught a glimpse of it."

Yvonne Rodriguez said she was sleeping in Lopez's back bedroom after going to his apartment earlier that morning to pick up her bicycle. She said she heard a loud bang and then the next thing she remembered was police officers telling her to put her hands up.

When asked by Deputy District Attorney Jim Miller if she had ever seen Lopez with a gun, Rodriguez said: "He always had a gun on him, but I never really asked him about it."

Miller then asked if he kept it in his waistband, and she said yes.

The jury began hearing testimony midmorning, with the hearing expected to continue through midafternoon. Others expected to testify include several North Las Vegas police officers and a doctor with the Clark County Coroner's Office.

The jury is expected to determine whether the killing was justifiable, excusable or criminal in nature.

North Las Vegas Police, who usually release the names of officers involved in shootings after 48 hours, withheld Ryan's name until early this month.

Officer Tim Bedwell, spokesman for the department, said in April that publicizing Ryan's identity would compromise his safety and criminal cases.

Ryan was involved in a six-month FBI-led investigation into a Las Vegas methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking ring that resulted in 19 arrests on July 1.

A six-year veteran of the department, Ryan had never previously fired his weapon in the line of duty, Bedwell said.