North Las Vegas Police Chief Pamela Ojeda briefs the media, Tuesday Jan. 7, 2020, on an officer involved shooting that occurred on Jan 2nd.
Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020 | 1:02 p.m.
Two North Las Vegas Police officers fired 24 rounds at a carjacking suspect who rammed a stolen car at their cruiser on Thursday, pinning one of the officers, Police Chief Pamela Ojeda said.
The suspect, Jamari Tarver, 26, of Henderson, was mortally wounded, said Ojeda, who played helicopter and body-worn camera footage of the incident during a briefing today.
Officer Aaron Patty, 39, and Officer Phillip Schmidt, 43, who suffered minor injuries, were placed on routine paid administrative leave while the investigation was ongoing.
Another officer encountered a red Toyota Corolla near Alexander and Revere Street at 12:34 a.m. and tried to stop it because it had reportedly been involved in a carjacking in Las Vegas a couple of days earlier, Ojeda said.
Tarver, a felon, was suspected of taking the car by using a “simulated firearm,” Ojeda said.
Instead of stopping, Tarver took off in the car, leading police on a chase, she said. Metro Police dispatched a helicopter to assist.
For more than 20 minutes, Tarver led officers up and down Fifth Street and into some neighborhoods, at times accelerating to about 80 to 90 mph and turning off the car’s headlights, North Las Vegas Police Officer Eric Leavitt said.
Police used stop sticks to puncture the car’s tires before it crashed on Craig Road, near Allen Lane, Ojeda said. Tarver put the car in reverse, hitting a cruiser and driving into a parking lot in the 3600 block of Craig Road, Ojeda said.
Patty and Schmidt followed him in their vehicle and stopped behind the car, Ojeda said. As they were getting out, Tarver put the car in reverse again, hitting the cruiser and pinning Scmidt between the door and frame of the cruiser, she said.
Patty fired 14 shots into the car, and Schmidt fired 10 shots, Ojeda said. It wasn’t clear how many times Tarver was hit.
Tarver served time in prison from 2012 to 2018 for battery with intent to commit robbery and coercion with force, kinapping, battery with intent to commit sexual assault, sexaul assault, and open and gross lewdness, Ojeda said.
Had he survived, he would have faced charges including attempted murder on a police officer, Ojeda said.
