Monday, July 26, 2004 | 8:25 a.m.
A North Las Vegas Police officer who shot and killed a man while serving a narcotics search warrant in April was found to be justified in his actions at a Clark County coroner's inquest on Friday.
Detective Clint Ryan told jurors he feared for his life as he and other officers broke down an apartment door and found 44-year-old Cipriano Lopez aiming a gun at him.
"He had a handgun in his right hand, and the only way I can describe it was that he was punching out at me with the handgun in a very aggressive manner," Ryan said. "He was pointing the weapon directly at me. As I fired my weapon, he fired his, and then I fired again."
When asked by Deputy District Attorney Jim Miller why he fired at Lopez, who was struck twice and died at the scene, Ryan said he felt his safety was threatened.
"There is no doubt in my mind I would have been shot and hurt, and I don't know how many of my team members would have been hurt if I hadn't fired," Ryan said.
A seven-member jury returned a unanimous verdict of justifiable homicide after about 40 minutes of deliberation. The jury heard testimony from Ryan, other North Las Vegas officers, a doctor with the coroner's office and people who heard or witnessed the shooting on April 27 at an apartment complex in the 500 block of North 15th Street, near Bonanza Road and Maryland Parkway.
Ryan, who has worked as a North Las Vegas Police officer for nearly seven years, had never previously fired his weapon in the line of duty, he said.
Ryan was the point man as the seven-member narcotics squad made its way from the street toward Lopez's apartment. The squad members, who are also trained in SWAT tactics, were wearing black SWAT uniforms marked with "POLICE" in large white letters on the front, back and shoulders of their tactical vests.
The officers were wearing black masks to protect their identities because the officers in the narcotics squad work undercover posing as drug purchasers, and they did not want to compromise their ability to do future undercover work, police said.
A woman was at the door of Lopez's apartment as the officers approached, and when she saw the officers she turned toward the door and appeared to tell someone inside something, testified Sgt. James Jackson, who oversees the narcotics unit and was one of the seven officers serving the search warrant.
Ryan yelled, "Police!" and "Get down!" to the woman at least twice as the officers moved toward the door, which was then slammed shut, Jackson said.
As the officers reached the door Ryan repeatedly yelled, "Police!" and "Open the door!," Jackson said.
A neighbor who witnessed the incident also testified that she clearly heard the officers identify themselves several times.
A crime scene investigator with North Las Vegas Police testified that Ryan shot four rounds at Lopez with his AR-15 assault rifle, and that Lopez fired one round at Ryan. Lopez's round struck the floor in front of Ryan.
Police later found 100 grams of methamphetamine and 144 grams of marijuana in the apartment along with measuring scales and other paraphernalia.
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 because Ryan worked undercover as part of a special narcotics team. Ryan no longer works with the narcotics unit and has been transferred to the detective bureau.
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.
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