POCATELLO — A California law firm known for its involvement with high profile cases representing victims of police brutality has begun legal proceedings on behalf of the family of 17-year-old Victor Perez.

Victor died Saturday after being shot by Pocatello police in an incident that has gained nationwide attention.

The Oakland-based Burris Nisenbaum Curry & Lacy gained notoriety after representing clients such as the late Rodney King in his case against Los Angeles police and will now be representing Victor’s family as they seek justice.

The law firm on Wednesday began the process of filing litigation against the City of Pocatello, Bannock County and state for the police shooting death of Victor, who had autism and cerebral palsy.

The firm also held a meeting at Gate City Coffee in downtown Pocatello on Wednesday evening where local residents spoke, including members of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

The messages from the firm and those in attendance of the gathering were that police need more training on how to deal with people with disabilities, police in Southeast Idaho have a history of using excessive force and the videos showing Pocatello police shooting Victor represent damning evidence against the officers and their department.

The firm’s lawyers also said that achieving justice for Victor’s family is going to take a long time but they’re confident there will be justice in the end.

On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Brian Blad and Police Chief Roger Schei held a news conference at City Hall in which they expressed sorrow and condolences to Victor’s family over the incident, discussed its profound impact on the city, and announced that more information from police would soon be released.

Schei said, “After speaking with several people and listening to them, I know how this has deeply impacted our city, our community, our department, our state and even everybody across this nation. I can only imagine the people that witnessed this event, what they may be going through and how difficult it may be for them. My thoughts are with them and last, to members of the Perez family, I’m truly sorry for your loss.”

Blad said, “This tragic event has absolutely impacted all of us. I don’t know of a person in the community who hasn’t been impacted by this event. And I know everybody has questions. I know every time I go somewhere, there is a question asked. I can’t answer those questions right now. I do believe the information we’re releasing today will answer a number of those questions. I’m confident if people watch and see the videos, a number of the questions, not all, but a number of the questions will be answered.”

Minutes after the news conference ended police released a 10-minute video chronicling the entire incident involving Victor, starting with the 911 call made by witnesses about the physical disturbance outside his family’s North Harrison Avenue home, then the police dispatch radio traffic to the responding officers, footage from a nearby security camera that captured the physical disturbance involving Victor and family members outside the residence, the arrival of police and the shooting, and lastly graphic police body camera footage from two of the four officers involved in the incident.

The police video chronicling the incident that was released Thursday also states that four officers responded and three of them fired their pistols at Victor and the fourth fired one round from a shotgun that shoots bean bags meant to incapacitate.

Thursday’s police video included a photo of the 14-inch knife Victor was armed with during the incident and highlighted body camera footage of him moving toward officers while armed with the weapon. The officers’ body camera footage also shows the chain-link fence separating Victor from the officers as well as the two females in the yard behind Victor.

The police video ends by stating: “This video draws no conclusions concerning this incident.”

The city issued the following statement on Wednesday about the legal claim filed on behalf of Victor’s family: “The City of Pocatello does not comment on pending litigation.”

But Thursday’s news conference and release of the 10-minute video do serve as the most comprehensive response to the incident by the city and its police force thus far.

As highlighted in that video, Pocatello police thought they were responding to an incident involving a individual armed with a knife who was possibly inebriated based on the 911 call. Victor’s family has since said that Victor was armed with a knife during the incident but was experiencing a mental health episode and they were trying to calm him down.

The video from the police released Thursday points out that the police dispatcher and responding officers had no idea of Victor’s disabilities or that he was experiencing “a mental health crisis.”

In an incident captured on multiple videos by witnesses, Pocatello police arrived on the scene, spotted Victor armed with a knife inside his family’s fenced-in yard and shot him from the other side of the chain-link fence when he took two steps toward them. The entire encounter took about 20 seconds from the time police arrived to when they opened fire.

It appears from the videos that police shot at Victor 12 times. His family and their attorneys said that nine of those bullets hit him.

Victor was rushed via ambulance to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, where he died Saturday.

Pocatello police haven’t commented on how many times Victor was shot or provided the names of the officers involved in the incident.

Videos of the shooting quickly went viral on social media, attracting the attention of the national media. Several of the top news organizations in the U.S. are now covering the story.

Local residents have voiced outrage at the shooting, with hundreds attending a vigil at PMC and subsequent peaceful protest at City Hall on Saturday.

The lawyers and local residents in attendance of Wednesday evening’s gathering at Gate City Coffee strongly encouraged the community to not resort to rioting or other forms of civil disobedience over the shooting. They also said that the incident should not cause anyone to be anti-police because law enforcement officers do a lot of good work in our society.

“A lot of times when there’s these high-profile issues, incidents where someone’s killed by police violence, it starts as an emotional response that comes down to riots, looting and that type of thing,” said James Cook, a lawyer for the firm representing Victor’s family. “I don’t see any evidence of that here, but we’ve been in the midst of it in Oakland, in my hometown of Minneapolis and everybody watched that on the news. We don’t want that. We want de-escalation. The idea is it’s not productive and the right way to do it is peaceful protests and community engagement. Just building awareness amongst yourselves.”

The legal notice the law firm filed Wednesday, a precursor to a lawsuit, stated that Victor’s family has suffered and will continue to suffer because of his death and also alleges that the Pocatello police used excessive force against him when they shot him outside his family’s home on April 5, were negligent in their conduct preceding the shooting and caused the death of the teen.

“In sum, the tort claim puts the government on notice that there may be a lawsuit coming,” Cook said. “This is part of the process of initiating a federal court case. First you file the claim and then the claim is either accepted or rejected, typically rejected, and then, once the claim is rejected, then the lawsuit comes shortly thereafter.”

The notice also relays a request to the city concerning the release of confidential records and evidence, including police body camera footage, the names of the officers involved in the incident, and the preservation of other evidence, along with baseline claim damages for civil rights abuses related to the case.

The exact monetary damages being sought in the case have yet to be determined.

The claimants in the case, listed as Victor’s grandfather Luis Alicea, mother Wanda Alicea, sister Monica Perez and aunt Ana Vazquez, allege in the court filing that the conduct of Pocatello police toward Victor constitutes state statutory violations, including but not limited to assault, battery, false imprisonment, negligence, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and violations of state civil rights laws.

The law firm is largely looking for accountability from the involved officers and agencies for Victor’s death.

The law firm cited previous litigation in cases where it negotiated for police policy changes, expressing how in many of those cases the police involved often have a lack of training, negligent supervision, and suffer from improper hiring and recruitment.

The law firm has been involved in cases that have resulted in law enforcement officers being indicted and/or fired for their actions.

Cook added, “These cases take a long time. (This) case is going to go on for years. I would imagine that the next step is, once things get rolling, we will approach the higher ups in the city to see if we can get some initial discussions going.”

According to Cook, many of the common threads he sees in police brutality cases are victims who are experiencing economic difficulties and the police targeting poor people.

He said every case has its own nuances and details can widely vary. He said his firm also handles cases representing police officers in legal disputes regarding unlawful termination, sexual harassment and whistleblowing.

The shooting is currently being investigated by the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office, which is expected to soon provide Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador with a report on the incident.

Labrador announced this week that he’d be handling the review of the report on the shooting at the request of the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office to avoid any local conflicts of interest.

Labrador has given no timeline on when he’d have his review completed on whether the police shooting of Victor was justified.

Cook said his law firm will pursue justice in this case regardless of Labrador’s determination.

Cook added, “We are advocates. This is what we do, this is our expertise, tried and true over years. Every year we literally do hundreds of these types of cases.”

Cook also encouraged people to vote and serve on juries as a way to effect change so situations like the one involving Victor don’t end in tragedy.

“It’s not sexy, but voting (and) being on a jury are ways to more or less make policy (changes),” Cook said.

Blad ended Thursday’s news conference by hoping the city can heal from the events of April 5.

“It is my hope that we will as a community be able to find ways to move forward,” the mayor said. “I recognize it is going to take a very long time for our community to heal from this if we ever truly heal from this. But it’s also my belief that as we work together we will indeed build a stronger Pocatello.”