I had somehow missed the story of Erik Scott until a recent Reason piece mentioned it:
Erik Scott, a 1994 U.S. Military Academy grad with an MBA from Duke University, was shopping when a Costco employee noticed a handgun in his waistband and called a supervisor. Scott, a medical device salesman, explained the gun was registered and he had a concealed carry permit, but the employee said Costco’s policy forbids firearms, although it posts no signs at entrances and doesn’t mention the ban in membership applications.
The employee then told a manager, who notified a private security guard, who called police, saying a customer was acting erratically.
As Erik Scott walked to the exit, more than a dozen police cruisers rolled up. Officers jumped out, yelled conflicting commands at Scott — “Get on the ground!” “Drop your weapon!” “Keep your hands up!” — and then shot him within two seconds of issuing those commands, Scott says, citing dispatch recordings.
Mosher, who shot and killed a citizen in 2006, shot him twice, and Mendiola and Stark shot him five times in his back, after he fell, Scott says.
Police didn’t take possession of Costco’s video until five days later, but the segments of the shooting were found to be corrupted.
The same day as the shooting, the Public Administrator, a former Vegas officer, and a police officer used a locksmith to gain entry to Erik’s condo, where they confiscated a West Point saber mounted in a shadow box and a pistol he kept in a drawer, logging those items in police reports.
But after the search was conducted, the family realized two other handguns were missing and not logged in police reports. Scott contends the cops wanted a second gun, because they claimed Erik pulled a gun on them, prompting them to fire. But that story didn’t gibe with a report medics had written for their employer, American Medical Response, saying the gun was still on Erik, when he was placed inside the ambulance. Medics gave the gun to police, and photos of the shooting scene taken by police show a handgun and a phone on the pavement, after the pavement had been washed of blood, Scott says.
Police later claimed Erik was carrying two guns: one found by medics and a second he had drawn on officers. “He never carried a second gun,” his father says. Scott notes it would have been easy for police to learn about his son’s other guns, because Erik’s permit in his wallet listed all the guns he was licensed to carry.
“Everyone who testified [at the coroner’s inquest] said he was unremarkable and didn’t pose a threat,” Scott says.
But evidence at the inquest showed Erik had been taking pain killers — for a back injury, his doctor testified — leading authorities to depict him as a drug abuser, Scott says.