During a fact-finding review on Monday to address the shooting of Keith Childress by Las Vegas police, detectives announced a preliminary determination found the officers involved in the shooting reacted out of self-defense and recommended they do not face criminal charges.
On Dec. 31, 2015, officers confronted the 23-year-old man near Desert Inn Road and Cimarron Road. Police said he appeared to be holding a firearm and he failed to comply when asked to drop the weapon repeatedly. Police then shot and killed him.
Officers later discovered that the object in Childress's hand was a cell phone.
Childress was wanted for missing a trial in Phoenix. A jury convicted him of burglary, armed robbery, kidnapping, theft and aggravated assault, and police say he faced over 20 years in prison.
"It never had to go down like this, why did this happen?" asked Childress's mother, Jacqueline Lawrence. "There was no reason for it, absolutely no reason for it."
Public reviews are held for transparency, to share facts about the case with the public, as part of standard procedure.
The preliminary determination will now be sent to the district attorney's office for a final review.
