Home News: Witness disputes police account

Police say victim was wielding a knife

Dave Clark, Home News

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 | 12:03 p.m.

A witness to a police shooting is disputing Henderson police accounts that a mother who was shot and killed in front of her children was a threat to officers.

“It was unjustified; it was aggressive. The woman should never have been shot,” she said. “They are saying she was charging at them. They were never in harm’s way from this woman.”

The witness, who said she gave police a statement but asked she not be identified in this story, challenged the police department’s account of what happened Feb. 12, after Zyber Selimaj’s wife came to assist her husband, who had been pulled over for speeding and running a stop sign near Pecos Ridge Parkway and Sunridge Heights Parkway.

The witness says she never saw a knife in Deshira Selimaj’s hand, as police say, and never observed her make any aggressive motions toward officers.

She said police missed ample opportunities to arrest the hysterical woman without incident.

“All those memories I just want to get rid of,” she said. “It was just unreal, like in a movie. People saying, 'Why did they shoot her?’ The cries and screams of the children and her husband. It was just not right.”

The woman, who lives in the neighborhood, said she had just dropped off her son for tutoring at nearby Coronado High School, when she drove past Zyber Selimaj, who had been pulled over while driving his ice cream truck, sitting on the sidewalk.

“I don’t know what made me turn back around, but something did,” she said.

She stopped her car near the median on Pecos Ridge Parkway and, with her head out the window, watched events unfold from what she estimated as 25 to 35 feet away.

By then, Deshira Selimaj had arrived in her ice cream truck and was waving her hands frantically up and down as four policemen surrounded her with guns drawn. The witness said it appeared the woman, who was Albanian, was trying to communicate with authorities using her limited English.

“I heard the word 'down,’ as in 'put your guns down,’” she said. “She was stomping her feet. She was mad.”

The witness said at no point did she hear police give any commands to Deshira Selimaj.

“They just kept approaching her,” she said. “She was not approaching them. She just continued to scream at them.”

Police have said a language barrier hindered communication, and Selimaj refused several orders to drop a knife. Police also said Zyber and Deshira Selimaj made suicidal statements during the encounter.

Ann Purser, attorney for Zyber Selimaj, said the man thought that by signing a traffic citation, he would go to jail. She said the police officer could have called for an interpreter, either in person or via telephone, but instead called Deshira Selimaj.

“She doesn’t speak well, either,” Purser said.

Purser said any suicidal statements can be attributed to the language barrier. The Selimajes probably were saying if Zyber Selimaj went to jail, he would die, Purser said.

The witness said the mother was not in danger of harming her 7- and 11-year-old sons, whom Deshira Selimaj had taken to the scene with her. She said the mother was motioning them behind a roadside electrical box, trying to protect them.

“At one point, she was holding the little boy’s hand,” she said.

Henderson police painted a different picture of what happened, saying Deshira Selimaj held a knife to her son’s throat as if to take him captive.

After police grabbed the children, the witness said, they began frisking the 11-year-old.

“She sat down on the cement Indian-style,” the witness said. “They had every opportunity to arrest her.”

Later, when the woman tried to get up, police shocked her with a Taser.

“She stumbled and fell down,” the witness said. “She immediately tried to get back up. That’s when they shot her.”

The witness said a single bullet was fired. The coroner ruled she died from a gunshot wound in the abdomen.

Henderson police have identified the officer who fired the shot as 23-year-old Luke Morrison, who has been on the force for just two years. He is currently on paid administrative leave.

After the shooting, the witness said, police just left Deshira Selimaj lying on the ground while they taped off the scene.

The woman said she was one of three witnesses who pulled over in their cars.

As she recounted her story, she cried.

“All of us witnesses are going through the same thing,” she said. “I’m trying to forget about it; trying hard to get it out of my mind.”

Henderson police spokesman Keith Paul said police recovered a knife at the scene, and the witness said it was possible that she could have missed the presence of a small knife.

“I didn’t see a weapon,” the witness said. “A butcher knife, we would’ve seen it. If it was a pocket knife, it would have been hard to see.”

Paul declined to comment on the witnesses accounts, noting details would emerge during the coroner’s inquest, which is yet to be scheduled.

“We’re not going to get into details of the investigation,” he said. “We believe the officer acted appropriately in protecting himself and those around him.”

Paul said he knew of no other investigation under way, outside of the police department’s internal one. Purser said as part of Selimaj’s defense she has hired an investigator.

Zyber Selimaj, 65, faces charges of speeding, running a stop sign and obstruction of an officer. Purser said the obstruction charge stems from Selimaj trying to run to his children after his wife was shot.

The children, who were initially taken to Child Haven, are now back home with him, she said.

Selimaj has been released from the Henderson Detention Center, where he was held last week on $70,000 bail. Purser said the bail was reduced to $4,000.

He is scheduled to appear in Henderson Municipal Court for trial at 10 a.m. March 31 before Judge Mark Stevens.

Purser said Selimaj plans to fight the charges, because the city attorney’s office is seeking jail time.

Dave Clark can be reached at 990-2677 or dave.clark@hbcpub.com.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

By bfam

2/21/08 at 3:52 p.m.

Suggest removal

so, luke morrison, how duz it feel to be an ugly american? Gunning down a defenseless mother, because she couldn't communicate in your language really makes you a hero. I hope L.V. police force boots your ass out the door, pronto. I'm sure many mothers will be glad to see you gone.
By LIFER

2/21/08 at 4:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

DISCUSTING, DESPICABLE, BUT NOTHING NEW. THESE KINDS OF "JUSTIFIED" FATAL POLICE SHOOTINGS HAVE BECOME THE NORM IN THE VALLEY. THE OFFICER WILL GET AWAY WITH IT, JUST AS THE OFFICER WHO SHOT (IN THE BACK) AND KILLED A HANDCUFFED JUVENILE A WHILE AGO. WHAT KIND OF TRAINING ARE THESE OFFICERS RECEVING WHEN THE FIRST THING THEY DO IS SHOOT TO KILL? ARE THEY UNAWARE THAT THERE ARE OTHER METHODS WHICH CAN BE UTILIZED IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES? OR DO THEY JUST NOT CARE? IT MAKES ME WONDER - WHAT KIND OF JUSTICE IS BEING SERVED?
By JSTACK

2/21/08 at 4:38 p.m.

Suggest removal

seeing as how i wasnt a witness and have no 1st hand knowledge of this event, i would begin to say what was right or wrong. i also know that you can do ride alongs with the police departments. that can also give you a first hand view of what they are up against. its always easy to make comments when you werent there. just like giving your version of a story that happened at your job....im sure there are different ways you can handle problems. i used to be a medic and situations can change in a heartbeat from a person being completly compliant/normal to violent without any provocation. im sure no one wants to be put in a position or live with the knowledge that they shot and killed someone. until you walk a mile or have any clue how to do someone else's job....dont be so quick to judge. im not taking anyones side...how can i...i wasnt there, i dont have all the facts.
By darthbry

3/4/08 at 2:59 p.m.

Suggest removal

Hey Bfam, don't disrespect a man who might save your life one day, and also, learn to read, he does not work for Metro. As for language differences, go to another country and see how fast they learn to speak English for you..oh wait... they don't, they expect you to learn their language. what a novel concept. In America, speak English...or go home.
By Wraith

3/5/08 at 9:15 a.m.

Suggest removal

darthbry, he might save bfam's life one day because he gunned a mother down in cold blood while her husband and small children watched in horror? Pshyeah, that makes a whole lot of sense!

You people are all a bunch of orcs, but you are exactly what America is today, and what every civilization in history has become shortly before their fall.
By RobertS

3/11/08 at 4:08 p.m.

Suggest removal

1. We need to take away the guns from the cops. They can't be trusted to use them appropriately.

2. We need to prosecute Morrison to the full extent of the law.

3. People are not going to sit back and let cops gun people down. Especially women, especially mothers in front of their children!!

4. I don't think its a matter of liberal or conservative thinking. Its a matter of whether or not a cop has the mental makeup to be a cop.

5. I understand being a cop is a scary job. There are bad guys out there somewhere. I don't think that is the issue here.

6. If the cops only way of dealing with a wacko woman with a knife is to shoot her I think they need to find another line of work.

7. The citizens need to beware and take this seriously. the citizens need to make sure this cop is brought to justice.

8.I can't remember who said this but it is so true "When the police become the militia, the community becomes the enemy"

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