Officer involved in veteran’s shooting has history of complaints

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UPDATE, 12/14/11: Three other officers involved in Monday’s shooting were identified Wednesday morning by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. They are police officer Malik Grego-Smith, Sgt. Michael Hnatuick and Lt. David Dockendorf. Jesus Arevalo was the fourth officer involved and was the only officer to fire his weapon. More: Officers involved in fatal shooting identified

The Las Vegas police officer who shot and killed a disabled war veteran Monday had a lengthy history of citizen complaints and internal discipline, sources told the Review-Journal on Tuesday.

Jesus Arevalo, a nine-year veteran of the department, was characterized by multiple sources as a cop with no real excessive force issues but plenty of complaints from citizens and his supervisors about his job performance.

Arevalo was a patrol officer with Bolden Area Command before being transferred to Northwest Area Command, which generally sees less crime.

One department source said Arevalo, who had not been officially identified by police as of Tuesday, had a tough time working in Bolden.

Arevalo shot Stanley Gibson, 43, early Monday after a 30-minute standoff with police in a northwest valley apartment parking lot.

Sources said Arevalo fired about seven shots from his rifle into the rear passenger window of Gibson’s car, which was pinned against several patrol cars and not moving.

Gibson, a Gulf War veteran who had been off his medications, was delusional and confused in the hours before the shooting.

Gibson was unarmed and appeared not to be a threat, multiple witnesses said.

At a news conference Monday, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie declined to release details of the investigation.

Multiple department sources told the Review-Journal that a breakdown in communication between supervisors and Arevalo might have contributed to the killing.

Early indications were that two supervisors decided to use a beanbag shotgun — a weapon designed to subdue but not kill — to shoot out at least one window of Gibson’s vehicle. But their decision might not have been understood by Arevalo, and when one of the supervisors fired the shotgun, Arevalo fired multiple times, possibly reacting to that blast.

The Police Department has not responded to that report, which some officers said raises significant questions about the tactics used.

In addition to the officer who fired the fatal shots, the two supervisors involved with the decision-making also were placed on routine paid administrative leave.

Arevalo and the two other officers will be officially identified by police today, per the department’s 48-hour policy to withhold names.

A day after her husband’s death, Rondha Gibson said she had received no new information from police.

"We’ve been trying to get anything I can," she said. "The only person talking to me is (Clark County Coroner Michael) Murphy, and that isn’t much," she said.

She said the coroner’s office will release her husband’s belongings today.

Rondha Gibson also is requesting a report that she hopes will clarify what happened two days before her husband’s death, when he was taken to the Las Vegas Detention Center on a misdemeanor charge after a medical episode.

Officers told her that Stanley Gibson, who was stopped by police during a mental breakdown in the streets near his home, would be placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold. But her husband was released less than eight hours later without being evaluated, she said, and she wants to know why.

"As far as I’m concerned, they killed my husband before they shot him," she said.

Several residents who witnessed the shooting or the events leading up to it spoke to the Review-Journal this week.

Bob, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of retribution, said Tuesday that he had a clear view of Gibson’s car.

A spotlight was shined directly on the window, he said. Gibson did not appear to be a threat.

"If he had been waving a gun around, that’s one thing, and I wouldn’t have much sympathy," he said. "But the guy was pinned and had nowhere to go, and there must have been 10 guns trained on him at any given time. So why pump a bunch of shots into the guy?"

A video provided to the Review-Journal that captured the shooting showed that the tires on Gibson’s car were smoking and spinning as he revved the engine, but the car was stationary when shots were fired.

Bob said he and several other residents were evacuated and didn’t see the shooting, but Bob said he saw Gibson’s car circling the apartment complex with its emergency lights flashing a few hours before police arrived.

"He was driving about 2 mph," Bob said. "He looked lost."

Rondha Gibson said the couple recently had moved, and her husband, confused and disoriented, was in the wrong apartment complex.

A resident apparently thought Gibson was prowling and called police. It was unclear whether Gibson tried to open any doors in the complex.

Rondha Gibson said her husband repeatedly called her in frustration as he searched for their home.

"He just didn’t know where he was. Stan would have never hurt anyone," she said.

Robert Sibulkin, 59, was renting a house to the couple before his bank foreclosed on it last year.

He said he knew about Stanley Gibson’s fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs over health benefits and allowed the couple to live in the house for several months without paying rent.

"Mentally, Stan was really beaten. The system was supposed to help veterans, and it really worked against him," Sibulkin said.

Rondha Gibson was angry that police have continued to call her husband a "suspect" instead of what he was — a mentally ill man with cancer who weighed about 120 pounds.

She also doesn’t believe he ever rammed police cars with his own car, as was initially reported as a probable cause for the shooting.

Bob agreed with Rondha Gibson’s assessment. "They had him pinned and blocked in for a good part of an hour," he said. "It was pretty obvious he wasn’t going anywhere."

Bob said he has several family members involved in law enforcement and generally agrees with police about deadly force.

But he wondered whether this could have happened to him at some point.

"What if it was you or me that was confused and sitting in a car? Then all of a sudden they decide to just shoot you?

"I feel really bad for this guy. I think he got killed for nothing."

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.