Published Friday, April 3, 2015 | 1:36 p.m.
Updated Friday, April 3, 2015 | 2:27 p.m.
A man killed in a shootout with two veteran Boulder City police officers last weekend fired the first shot, the department's police chief said Friday.
John Marcell Allen, 54, fired once with a black-powder revolver before patrol Officers Alan Nutzman and Armando Salazar returned fire about 10:30 p.m. Sunday at an apartment complex where Allen lived, Chief William Conger said.
Allen was struck twice. He was flown by medical helicopter to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead.
No officers were injured.
"Mr. Allen precipitated the action," Conger said. "The officers responded to what occurred."
The Clark County coroner ruled Allen's death a homicide — a finding that doesn't establish fault.
Nutzman, 43, a police officer for nearly 10 years, and Salazar, 38, an officer for six years, were placed on paid departmental leave pending the results of use-of-force investigations by Boulder City and Las Vegas police and the Clark County district attorney's office, Conger said.
Allen was found with a gun by four officers investigating an initial complaint about shots fired at the apartment complex on Avenue A, Conger said. A least one of the officers was armed with a rifle, he said.
Allen's death was the first fatal police shooting in the city since September 2005, when authorities say Jeffrey Dean Martindale, 32, opened fire at officers after he was pulled over for a traffic infraction.
Boulder City is about 25 miles east of Las Vegas.
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