LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Clark County district attorney’s office in Nevada dismissed a murder complaint against an Army veteran in the killing of a teenager.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Edward Croaker acted in self-defense when he killed 17-year-old Kory Lino in an alley behind Croaker's house in December 2019.
Lino and another teen had fired a pistol near Croaker's home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, prosecutors said. Croaker told Henderson police at the time that he feared for himself and his family and returned fire.
Police said they arrested Croaker after initially concluding that no shots had been fired into Croaker’s house and that the teens were running away from the home when Lino was shot in the head.
Lino’s body was found 90 feet (27 meters) away from Croaker's bedroom window.
“We could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the crimes he was charged with,” Wolfson said of Croaker.
The case was dismissed on Sept. 21.
Croaker “was always sympathetic to (Lino’s) family, that they lost someone, but he always felt that he did what anyone would do in that scenario in defending his house and his family,” Croaker's defense attorney Abel Yanez said.
Lino’s mother Patrice Lino told the Las Vegas Review-Journal hat she was devastated by the decision.
“Myself, Kory’s father and sister are devastated that a man can shoot a kid in the back of the head and just continue on with no consequences,” she said. “Kory was headed for great things. He was an amazing kid and loved by so many.”
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