Victor Perez

Victor Perez was a seventeen year old nonverbal autistic teenager with cerebral palsy who lived with his family in Pocatello, Idaho. He was not a public figure by choice. He became known nationally only because of the way he died, and because that death forced a small Idaho city to confront hard questions about how its police respond to people with disabilities in crisis.

On April 5, 2025, Pocatello police officers were called to the Perez family home after a report of a possible domestic disturbance. <cite index="14-4">Pocatello Police shot Victor nine times after responding to a domestic call.</cite> <cite index="9-3">Multiple Pocatello police officers shot Victor Perez, who had cerebral palsy and autism, at least nine times on April 5 on the 700 block of North Harrison Avenue.</cite> Some later accounts put the number of gunshot wounds as high as twelve. The shooting was captured partly on body camera and home security footage that was later released to the public.

Perez was rushed to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, where he was placed on life support. <cite index="8-4">Victor Perez, 17, was holding a knife when police officers opened fire at him while he was behind a chain-link fence. He died days later in the hospital.</cite> He was declared brain dead and, a week after the shooting, his family made the decision to remove him from life support. He died on April 12, 2025. <cite index="10-2">Dozens gathered with candles and flowers to remember Victor Perez as his family continues to seek justice</cite> in the months and year that followed, and the case drew national attention as footage and details of his disabilities became public.

The shooting mattered beyond Pocatello because it became a flashpoint in the national conversation about policing and disability. Perez's family and advocates argued that officers escalated a situation involving a disabled, nonverbal teenager into a fatal use of force within moments of arriving. <cite index="8-7">Four police officers who fatally shot a nonverbal autistic teenager who was holding a knife while behind a chain-link fence will not face criminal charges, Idaho's attorney general's office said.</cite> That decision, announced in September 2025, was welcomed by police representatives and criticized by the family and many in the community as a failure of accountability.

The Perez family pursued a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Pocatello over his death. More than a year and a half after the shooting, on November 5, 2026, the Pocatello City Council voted unanimously to authorize a settlement of that lawsuit. <cite index="5-1">The City Council on Thursday unanimously authorized Mayor Mark Dahlquist to sign off on a $4.5 million settlement in the federal civil rights lawsuit brought by the family of Victor Perez.</cite> <cite index="4-1">Under the agreement, Luis Alicea, Victor's grandfather, will receive 60% of the settlement, Wanda Alicea, Victor's mother, and Perez's sister will each receive</cite> a share of the remainder. The settlement closed the civil case without any admission of wrongdoing by the city, leaving the underlying questions about the shooting a matter of ongoing public debate even as the financial dispute was resolved.