Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Metro identifies officer involved in Sunday shooting

Shooting

Metro Police have identified the officer who fired a weapon Sunday morning after a man allegedly discharged a handgun in the northwest valley.

The officer who fired his weapon was Jeremy Jacobitz, Metro said Tuesday. Jacobitz, 34, is a patrol officer assigned to the Downtown Area Command. He has been with Metro since 2006.

A man who identified himself to police as Fredy Ortiz was arrested on a count of discharging a firearm in a public place after the incident. His identity hasn’t been verified and he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center under the name John Doe.

According to an arrest report for the man who police say fired the shots, Jacobitz and his partner were dispatched at 1:37 a.m. Sunday to a report of an illegal shooting in the area of 3212 Michael Way. About 10 minutes later, dispatch advised them they would be stopping two men in the area of 3225 Arlene Way after another report of shots being fired.

When the officers arrived in the area, they saw two men walking southbound on Arlene so they turned their vehicle – an unmarked police truck unit, the report said – around to make contact with them. At that point, Jacobitz heard the shot and saw the muzzle flash, but couldn’t be sure where the man was firing, the report said.

Police on Monday said the officers exited their patrol vehicle and confronted the man, who allegedly turned toward the officers with a handgun. One of the officers then fired a shot, missing the man, police have said. The arrest report doesn’t detail when Jacobitz fired his gun.

Shortly after the incident, the man was found hiding in a trash bin at 5400 West Cheyenne, the police report said.

The suspect told detectives in an interview he believed that the truck was being driven by people who had thrown rocks at him earlier and that he fired the gun to scare them off.

Police found a cartridge in the man’s pocket and a shell casing in front of an apartment at 3225 Arlene Way, the report said. An unregistered handgun was also found behind one of the apartments.

The man had an OSHA card in his possession with the name Fredy Ortiz, but he was only able to identify himself orally, the report said. The arrest report indicated he was a 22-year-old native of Guatemala.

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