Man to plead to reduced charge in Las Vegas Strip gun case

By Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Published Tuesday, June 21, 2016 | 11:13 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, June 21, 2016 | 1:18 p.m.

A man who drew police gunfire after they said he brandished an unloaded handgun among tourists and traffic on the Las Vegas Strip said Tuesday he's taking a plea deal that court officials said will get him treatment for schizophrenia.

Two bystanders were grazed by police gunfire but escaped serious injury, and defendant Kahleal Black wasn't wounded Jan. 22 on the crowded sidewalk during a Friday night water fountain music show in front of the Bellagio resort.

Black, 21, waived a preliminary hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court, and a judge scheduled his plea for Thursday in Clark County District Court.

Black's lawyer, Will Ewing, and prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said Black will plead guilty to felony resisting an officer with use of a firearm. The charge could get him one to five years in prison, but his case will be sent to a mental health court. Assault with a deadly weapon, firearm and stolen property charges will be dropped.

Prosecutors alleged the gun, a black snub-nosed .38-caliber revolver, was stolen in December from a Las Vegas home.

Police said several people called 911 while witnesses and video showed Black waving the gun, aiming it at people and pulling the trigger, although it had no bullets.

"The evidence was conclusive that he was in mental health crisis at the time," DiGiacomo said Tuesday. "The community was very lucky that nobody was seriously hurt."

Officer George Smith fired two shots as he exited a patrol vehicle and approached Black, who also pointed the gun at Smith, according to police accounts. The shots missed Black, but he dropped to the sidewalk and was arrested.

Smith's shots ricocheted off cement pillars, and one grazed the leg of a 4-year-old boy from California who was on his father's shoulders, police said. Another bullet zipped through the shoulder of clothing worn by a homeless man sitting against a pillar nearly 100 yards away. That man wasn't hurt.

Black has been in custody since the incident, and Ewing and DiGiacomo said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia by a state psychiatrist at the Lake's Crossing Center in Sparks.

Black also had a prior history of mental health issues, including an arrest in January 2015 on an obstruction charge after he was accused of trespassing at a Strip casino-hotel. Police said a psychological evaluation was ordered after Black threatened suicide in jail, but he was cleared and released.

The day of his arrest with the gun, Black quit his job and left belongings with his brother before heading to the Strip.