LAS VEGAS – A lawsuit is accusing Nevada prison guards of creating a "gladiator-like scenario" to let two handcuffed inmates fight before a corrections officer trainee fired four shotgun blasts, killing one prisoner and wounding the other.
The claim comes in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in state court by the family of the slain inmate, 28-year-old Carlos Manuel Perez Jr.
Their attorney, Cal Potter, calls the Nov. 12 shooting at High Desert State Prison an execution.
State prison officials and an aide to Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt aren't commenting. They're citing the pending litigation.
The lawsuit alleges guards staged the fight between Perez and inmate Andrew Jay Arevalo in a shower hallway in part of the prison where inmates are supposed to be kept apart for safety.
Arevalo was wounded but survived.
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