Henderson police release body-worn video from fatal barricade event
Henderson police have released a critical incident community briefing via YouTube regarding a two-day barricade event in mid-April that resulted in the death of suspect Trevor Cooper.
Cooper, 31, was found dead early April 14 in a townhome at 295 Callen Falls Ave. after a police standoff that began April 12.
In the video briefing released Tuesday, Henderson Police Department Deputy Chief for Support Jonathan Boucher describes the video as an overview of known information of an incident that remains under investigation.
An attempted kidnapping on March 5 led to the April multiday barricade event, Boucher said.
At that time, police went to Pickled Pepper Place and arrested one suspect for the attempted kidnapping, but Cooper fled the scene and could not be found.
Further investigation of the attempted kidnapping, Boucher said, led to the April 12 effort to arrest Cooper at the Callen Falls Avenue residence.
The video includes police radio transmissions and less than a minute of video from police body-worn cameras that shows when a team of officers entered the condo in the 21st hour of the incident in an attempt to retrieve some drones, robots and related equipment that had been used during earlier hours of the incident.
At that time, Cooper fired upon officers from a concealed location as they were on a second floor landing, Boucher said.
“SWAT Officer Taylor Young returned fire from his M4 Colt rifle to defend himself and fellow officers as they exited the residence,” Boucher said.
The video shows officers retreating from the residence. No officers were injured.
Eventually, the Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team entered the residence on April 14 and found Cooper deceased in the attic, Boucher said.
Cooper had five rifles, a handgun and several pieces of tactical gear in his possession when he was found deceased, police said.
He was facing charges of first-degree kidnapping, battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, administering a drug to aid in felony crime and conspiracy to commit kidnapping at the time of the confrontation, according to a Henderson Police Department release.
Police said that if Cooper had survived, he also would have faced additional charges: six counts of prohibited person in possession of a firearm; five counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a protected person, and one count each of possession of a short-barreled rifle and resisting with a firearm.
The Clark County coroner’s office has not released the cause and manner of Cooper’s death.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com.