On January 10, 2022, Isaiah Williams was the victim of a predawn raid on the apartment off South Nelis Blvd. Las Vegas, Nevada; Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department dispatched a no-knock warrant for a murder committed days prior by the supposed suspect who supposedly lived in this apartment. With a faint voice and a light knock, LVMPD announced themselves to this apartment: not knowing the suspect was not sleeping here. Not even five seconds later, you can hear LVMPD shooting and blasting their way through the window on the back end of the apartment.

When LVMPD blasted their way through the window, they weren’t aware that the person behind that door and window was Isaiah Williams. His mom tells KVIG Info Isaiah was a deep sleeper and knew the neighborhood was not the safest, which is why he carried a gun. After the stun grenade goes off near his head and glass blasts through the apartment he was sleeping at, Isaiah Williams decides to invoke Nevada stand your ground law and protect himself.

Under the constitution and bill of rights, one would think we would be safe from having our fifth and second amendment denied as people of a free nation. With all these rights, laws, and extensive policing budget, one would think LVMPD would have done its job right yet; we have come to learn that the suspect they were looking for was no longer a person of interest nor a suspect of the crime which triggered this no-knock warrant.

According to records by LVMPD, they have reported an increase in officer-involved shootings (OIS) since 2016. According to the same report in 2020, when Jorge Gomez was murdered: LVMPD had reported an increase by 150% compared to 2019 in Fatal OIS incidents. In 2022, this was LVMPD’s second OIS.

This same report LVMPD has available for all to read shows us; the truth of how the department handles poor policing. There is virtually no chance of OIS; being fired or held accountable when only 64% receive written reprimands, and 36% get only hours suspension. All of this while claiming that the abuse of power is “officer specific,” by 73%.

With many questions in mind and many doubts running through the community, the family of Isaiah Williams decided to take the streets to demand transparency and justice. On February 26, 2022, organizers of various organizations alongside the family of Isaiah Williams marched down the famous Freemont Street Experience of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sources close to the family tell KVIG Info that the warrant was signed: by justice of the peace Eric A. Goodman, son of former mayor Oscar and current mayor Carolyn Goodman. “How is it that a judge that has been in office since 2009 missed all the details of this warrant and signed off on it,” one protestor told us at the protest.

Latia Alexander: the mother of Isaiah Williams, was a former police officer for the East Cleveland Police Department; Latia told KVIG Info the dangers of a stun grenade. She believes that just like LVMPD didn’t do their job right the way they executed the warrant, neither did the judge who signed off on it.

The protest kicked off at the container park and made its way around the famous Freemont Street Experience. The protestors made their way around downtown, where they stopped at Clark County Detention Center to uplift the spirits of those behind the detention center, later made their way down the federal courthouse where Jorge Gomez was murdered and held a minute of silence.

Protestors chanted “locked them up,” all while chanting each name of the officers involved in the murder of Isaiah Williams. As protestors walked down the route, they handed out flyers with information regarding the case. While they expressed their first amendment, there was counter chanting by people in the street, one man going as far as saying: “you should pray for the police; they protect you too.”

At the protest, we learned that as the case keeps unfolding, the family and community are organizing a press conference on Friday, March 4, 2022. Within the press conference, we will hear firsthand from the family, and we will get updates and possible courses of action against LVMPD.