Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Video shows man charge police with gun outside Laughlin casino

Surveillance video from two Laughlin resorts shows a man putting a gun on the counter of two casino cages. But both times, his robbery attempts early Monday failed when workers refused to give him any money, according to Metro Police.

As Michael Todd Lopez, 69, was being trailed by security guards outside the second casino, he pointed a gun at a guard and pulled the trigger, police said. Nobody was hit.

Metro SWAT officers spent hours trying to get Lopez to surrender, but video displayed by police today shows Lopez grab a gun from a truck, jog toward SWAT officers and point the gun at an officer.

That's when two SWAT officers opened fire, striking Lopez six times and killing him, Clark County Assistant Sheriff Tim Kelly.

Lopez entered the Golden Nugget in Laughlin at 12:49 a.m. Monday and tried to rob the cage, Kelly said. When a worker refused his demands, Lopez simply walked away and left in his truck, Kelly said.

About a half hour later, Lopez went into the nearby Aquarius Casino Resort and tried to rob the cage in a similar fashion and with the same result, Kelly said.

As security guards trailed him to the parking lot, he fired a round and then barricaded himself in his pickup truck, Kelly said.

As SWAT Officer Cory Mikkelson tried to talk him into giving up, Lopez jogged toward him with a gun, prompting Mikkelson and Officer John Susich, who was perched with a rifle on top of a parking garage, to almost simultaneously open fire, police said.

Had Lopez survived, he would have faced counts of attempted murder, assault on a protected person and attempted armed robbery, Kelly said.

Mikkelson and Susich were placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation continues, per Metro policy.