LAS VEGAS — Federal charges have been filed against five southern Nevada residents who allegedly caused more than $71,000 in damages to a downtown Las Vegas federal facility during a May 30 protest against police killings.
The charges, announced Friday, Sept. 18, come after Attorney General William Barr pushed federal prosecutors to be more aggressive with bringing charges for protest-related violence, according to a report from the Associated Press. They were jointly announced by U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada, Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Marshal Gary Schofield, and Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Earlier this month investigators from the FBI reached out to media outlets requesting news footage of the May 30 protests. In the days following a violent May 30 protest in Reno, detectives from the Reno Police Department also used media images and video to identify suspects who vandalized Reno City Hall; several arrests were made as a result. One man in Reno faces federal charges related to that protest.
Court documents in the Las Vegas case allege the five individuals threw paint and kicked and struck windows at the east entrance of the Foley Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas and threatened a security officer stationed inside.
The May 30 protest in Las Vegas followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the hands of police. Officials say protesters also set off fireworks, spray painted obscenities and graffiti, and lit several fires in the area.
Alejandro Avalos (28), Alexander Kostan (21), Reginald Lewis (19), Kelton K. Simon (34), and Jeanette R. Wallace (24), all of Las Vegas, have been each charged in separate criminal complaints with one count of depredation against property of the United States.
