A group of Black teens was playing with BB guns inside an abandoned house in Oklahoma City in 2019 when cops arrived and shot a 14-year-old Black boy, claiming he was armed.
But Lorenzo Clerkley did not have a gun, not even a BB gun, just a gray hoodie, which evidently made him suspicious in the eyes of Oklahoma City police officer Kyle Holcomb, who shot the boy twice.
Clerkley fortunately survived the shooting, filing a lawsuit the following year, and just last month — after years of legal wrangling and setbacks — Oklahoma City quietly settled with Clerkley for $750,000.
Just a Gray Hoodie
“Lorenzo is pleased to put this chapter of his life behind him,” said Daniel Smolen of Smolen & Roytman, the law firm that represented Clerkley.
“On the day he was shot, Lorenzo was just 14 years old. He is now an adult. This case has been a true ‘roller coaster,’ including years of litigation, a trip to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the disappointment of losing at trial, followed by the elation of winning a motion for new trial.”
The shooting took place on March 10, 2019, after Oklahoma City police responded to a call of a possible burglary by potentially armed suspects.
But when Holcomb pulled up, he told the dispatcher that, “I think it’s a cap gun, but they are shooting something off,” according to bodycam footage.
However, moments later, Holcomb spotted Clerkley through a hole in a wooden fence and determined he was armed.
“Show me your hands! Drop it!” he yelled before firing off four rounds. “Drop the gun!”
“Shots fired, shot fired,” he spoke into his radio. “Black male with a gray hoodie had the gun.”
But Clerkley had left his BB gun inside the abandoned home, so it was nowhere near him. Watch the video below.
‘Officers are Going to Wind Up Wounded or Dead’
Holcomb was never criminally charged but Clerkley’s mother, Cherelle Lee, filed a lawsuit against him and the city in 2020 because her son was a minor.
Holcomb then claimed qualified immunity by claiming he did not violate a “clearly established” constitutional right when he shot the unarmed teen after imagining a gun in his hand.
The district court denied Holcomb qualified immunity so Holcomb appealed but was again denied qualified immunity by the appellate court in 2024, sending the case back down to the district court to be tried.
The first trial took place in March 2025, lasting seven days before the jury sided with Holcomb, despite the lack of qualified immunity.
However, Clerkley’s defense team filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that Holcomb’s defense team committed an “improper and prejudicial statement” during closing arguments that manipulated the jury into ruling in his favor — or else be responsible for cops getting killed.
“If this jury finds against Kyle Holcomb, every law enforcement officer in this state is going to hear about it,” Holcomb’s defense team told the jury during closing arguments after the seven-day trial.
“And when those officers get in that situation and have to hesitate because they fear what this jury does, then those officers are going to end up wounded or dead.”
U.S. District Judge Charles B. Goodwin agreed with Clerkley’s defense team on March 31, granting them a new trial that was scheduled for July 14.
But the city agreed to settle the case in June to avoid going to trial, approving the $750,000 settlement for Clerkley.
“Lorenzo remained brave and steadfast through it all,” Smolen said in his statement to the media.
“He advocated for himself and never gave up hope that he would obtain some measure of justice.”
