Man shot in police standoff charged with resisting officer

By Jean Reid Norman

Thursday, April 16, 2009 | 6:27 p.m.

A 37-year-old man who was shot during a police standoff has been charged with a felony charge of resisting a public officer.

Julio Velazquez is being held in the Clark County Detention Center on $3,000 bail on that charge and on $3,200 bail on two unrelated traffic warrants, according to Clark County jail records. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 20 in Las Vegas Justice Court on the felony charge.

Velazquez was shot early Sunday morning after Metro Police officers were called to the 4500 block of Swandale Avenue in east Las Vegas shortly after 2 a.m.

When police arrived, a man with two knives was outside the house threatening his roommate and threatening to kill himself, a police spokesman said. The man refused a police order to drop the weapon and placed a knife to his own throat, the spokesman said.

Officer Shalley D. Dowdy, 37, fired one round and shot Velazquez when he tried to go into the home, where his 71-year-old roommate was, police said. Dowdy has been a Metro officer since 1996.

Velazquez was taken to Sunrise Trauma Center, where he was treated, police said. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Monday, according to jail records.

This is the seventh officer-involved shooting in Metro’s jurisdiction this year. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.