Disabled Pocatello teen in critical condition as police and neighbors give different versions of shooting

POCATELLO — After a 17-year-old was shot multiple times by four Pocatello Police officers, officers and observers are giving conflicting versions of events.

Multiple police officers shot Victor Perez Saturday evening on the 700 block of North Harrison Avenue.

Family members tell EastIdahoNews.com that doctors removed nine bullets from his body and that due to the shooting, he had to have his left leg amputated. On Monday afternoon, they said that Perez was still in “critical condition” at Portneuf Medical Center.

Ana Vazquez, Perez’s aunt, said the boy has cerebral palsy and a mental handicap, which significantly impairs his movement and makes him primarily nonverbal. Perez’s family is Puerto Rican and speak limited English.

Video of the shooting was widely circulated on social media Sunday.

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Neighbors see the shooting

Video of the incident was sent to EastIdahoNews.com by multiple people, showing Perez lying on the ground outside of a home in a yard. He appears to be holding a knife and is arguing with a woman, who tries to get the item from Perez’s hands and repeatedly pushes him down to the ground.

Police arrived at 5:25 p.m., according to a police news release, and four officers rushed out of their vehicles with guns drawn.

The video shows officers yelling at Perez and telling him to drop his weapon. The officers were in front of a chain link fence, not in the yard, where Perez was. Perez appears to stand up and moves toward the officers. The officers then fired multiple shots.

EastIdahoNews.com spoke with Brad Andres, who filmed the video of the incident that has been circulating social media. He said he and his son Bridger were working on a car in their nearby shop when he stepped outside to take a call.

“I looked over across the street at the neighbors, and it looked like family members just playing in the backyard, it looked like play knife fighting because everyone was moving sort of slow, and nobody was really scared of the guy with the knife,” says Brad.

At first, Brad didn’t think much of it but noticed that Perez seemed to be physically disabled, and he says at first, he thought he was drunk. He later learned that Perez has special needs.

Suddenly, Brad says he saw a man near Perez try and “swing” at the knife in his hand.

“The (man) took a swing at (Perez’s) hand with the knife, trying to knock it out,” says Brad. “I’m watching this, and I’m going, ‘Wow, something’s going on here.'”

At this point, Brad says he called out to his son Bridger to watch the incident with him while he finished his phone call. During the incident, Brad says he saw a “log” in the hands of the man near Perez, but never saw him strike him.

According to Brad, Bridger watched from the window inside the shop and also saw Perez swinging a knife around.

“(Perez) is up with the knife, and he’s swinging it around,” says Brad. “He’s not lunging and trying to stab somebody; he’s more swinging it around sort of in a circle that ‘if you get near me, you’re going to get cut.'”

A woman was also near Perez, seemingly trying to disarm him. As Perez continued swinging the knife around, the father and son called 911.

Brad says he turned around for a second, and when he looked back, Perez was on the ground, and the log was near him.

“It looked sketchy. There’s a knife, there’s things in danger, so my son made the correct call to call 911 with the goal of helping his neighbor with this situation,” says Brad. “Dispatch may have exaggerated something, because this wasn’t a knife fight. Nobody would have been stabbed. Nobody was in immediate danger.”

When the police arrived at the house, Brad says the man near Perez made a hand motion to the officers, describing it as what he would interpret as, “We’re over here, don’t panic, this isn’t a big deal.”

“The cops had run up, and when (the woman) was in the lawn next to Perez, she started yelling ‘No! No! No!’ and put her hands up with the body language saying, ‘No, you don’t need to come over here,’ to stop the police. They ignored her,” says Brad.

Brad says police did not make contact with the man or woman near Perez.

“Instead, they rushed the fence in an aggressive way and pulled their guns out, and pointed them at (Perez) on the ground,” says Brad. “He saw everybody pointing guns at him, so he stood up and pointed the knife toward the officers. After the officers saw this, they all unloaded.”

According to Brad, the officers continued to shoot even after Perez had already been shot and was on the ground.

“You can see that the kid, after he was shot, wounded and down on the ground in pain, suffering from the shots, they continued to shoot at him,” says Andres. “If you look at the video I took, you can see the dirt being kicked up, and that was a couple of frames into (Perez) being down.”

At that point, Brad and his son stopped recording and returned to the shop.

The last 48 hours have been tough for Brad and his son Bridger, they say, as they try to come to terms with the fact that this incident occurred.

“We don’t know how to handle this. We’ve never seen a video that is so extreme,” says Brad. “It’s the most graphic video I’ve ever seen of police abuse ever. I mean, there’s no excuse for it.”

Brad says he hopes Perez recovers quickly and asks the community to help him in supporting the victim’s family.

“If there can be anything that could help bring this community together to do something positive from this, in the name and to honor the family that suffered, that’s what we should be working on,” says Brad. “Let’s take that anger, and let’s funnel it into something positive that can prevent this from happening again.”

Pocatello Police hold news conference

The Pocatello Police Department held a last-minute news conference at 4:30 p.m. Monday to address the officer-involved shooting. The conference lasted just over 8 minutes.

Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei addressed a room of reporters and stated that he would not be taking any questions “due to ongoing criminal external and internal investigations.”

“We understand the concern and emotion surrounding the officer-involved shooting that occurred on April 5, 2025,” says Schei. “This press conference is meant to provide clarity, share the information we can at this stage, and address some misconceptions that have emerged.”

Schei says at 5:22 p.m., officers were dispatched to the home in response to a “reported disturbance.”

The recorded 911 call was played, where the reporting party, Bridger Andres, states there are three people in a yard, one of the men has a knife and it “looks like they’re trying to stab someone.”

Bridger tells dispatch that it “looks like he’s under the influence.” He says that one of the other men hit Perez with a stick from the alleyway and that he looks to be possibly passed out on the ground but rolling around.

He then told dispatch that the three people were not speaking English and that, at some point, Perez got “hit in the head with a log.”

Much of the call is muffled and difficult to hear, but at this point, Brad tells dispatchers that Perez has a “big knife,” possibly a “steak knife.” The call ends after Brad says he sees the police officers.

According to Schei, officers arrived and saw “a male on the ground, holding a large knife.”

Schei showed reporters a photo of the knife, which looks to be a kitchen knife.

“Two females were just a few feet away in the yard, and another male stood just outside the fence. Officers positioned just outside the yard gave reported commands for the male to drop the knife,” says Schei. “He did not comply, and instead, he stood up and advanced toward the officers while still armed.”

Schei says that officers then shot at Perez, disputing that they continued shooting after he was on the ground. Officers then began live-saving measures, video of which is also circulating online. Perez was taken to Portneuf Medical Center, where he is still hospitalized.

“In situations like this, officers must make decisions in seconds. They assess threats, not just to themselves, but to those nearby,” says Schei. “In this case, two individuals were within a few feet of an armed, noncompliant individual. The risk was immediate, and the situation rapidly evolving.”

Schei noted the impact on the community and said the incident was under investigation by the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force and a parallel internal investigation.

“We know this incident has deeply affected the community. We are also aware of the video circulating online, which shows only one angle,” said Schei. “The full picture requires careful review of all facts and evidence. … Our thoughts are with everyone impacted.”

EastIdahoNews.com will continue following this story in the coming days.

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