Nate Silvester’s role in Randy Holler Jr’s death: Cop who mocked LeBron James cleared in Idaho motel shooting
Nate Silvester has been cleared of charges that were levied against him in 2009's Randy J Holler Jr's shooting case. Holler Jr was 20 years old at the time of his death and Silvester was one of the four officers named in the shooting. At this time, he had been working with the police department in Idaho's Twin Falls.
In August 2009, it was found by Ada County prosecutor that Silvester had indeed acted appropriately in the shooting of Holler Jr that occurred on March 17 the same year. Silvester had shot Holler Jr during a confrontation after Holler Jr exited a room's bathroom at the Dunes Motel, and he was carrying a 9mm handgun stolen from a previous residential burglary.
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After the struggles during the confrontation, Silvester shot Holler Jr in the chest. After this, it was said that Holler Jr had freed himself and run into the parking lot and one of the officers said that he saw Holler Jr "sweeping" his gun at him. However, in contradiction, another officer claimed that Holler Jr had pointed his gun back towards the motel where Silvester and his colleague stood.
The three officers shot from three different directions and fired 20 shots of which 17 shots had hit Holler Jr. Holler Jr at no point during the confrontation discharged his gun. Holler Jr reportedly had methamphetamine and THC in his system. Drug paraphernalia and ammunition were found in the bathroom inside a bag.
In 2007, Holler Jr had been serving a two-year probation for grand theft charges and in 2009 a pair of warrants for his arrest were issued against him. He also failed to attend required meetings and broke down the front door of an ex-girlfriend's apartment. However, Twin Falls Police Department seems to have distanced themselves from Silvester, not due to the Holler Jr shooting case but because of the most recent controversy.
In fact, when the department had been receiving messages about the officer's TikTok controversy, they stated on a Facebook page, "This Facebook page, and many members of the TFPD staff, are receiving messages regarding the reported suspension of an officer for a tik tok video." Chief Craig Kingsbury further added, "However the fact is that this officer does not work for the TFPD. Therefore no one at TFPD has any involvement in this personnel action."
The controversy spurned when Silvester posted a TikTok video where he had mocked LeBron James for his comment on Ma'khia Bryant's shooting. This tweet by James has now been deleted. After this, he had also posted videos supporting officer Kim Potter who had shot Daunte Wright after she had mistakenly fired her weapon which she had thought was her taser. It was revealed by Bellevue Marshal's Office that the "personnel issue" will be dealt with internally.
A GoFundMe page that was started by a friend of Silvester, however, states that the officer has been suspended without pay.