Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022 | 5:23 p.m.
Metro Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting Saturday that resulted in the ongoing hospitalization of a suspect, who suffered a nonlife-threatening injury when he was struck by gunfire from two officers in southern Las Vegas, Assistant Sheriff John McGrath said in a briefing Wednesday.
Officers Devonte Gleason, 29, and Marlon Salazar, 31, were conducting a follow-up investigation in an apartment complex in the area of East Serene Avenue and Haven Street at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, though there was no report on what they were investigating. That’s when the suspect, Steven Trovato, 37, confronted them with a handgun.
McGrath said police do not yet know what Trovato’s intentions were, or whether he tried to say anything to the officers.
Trovato allegedly aimed his weapon at the officers, who were still inside their vehicle. Gleason and Salazar did not have an opportunity to activate their emergency lights or sirens, McGrath said, before they got out of their car and began firing at Trovato, who then ran away from them.
Bodycam footage showed the officers exiting their vehicle, chasing and firing multiple rounds at Trovato, and calling for him to drop his weapon before he eventually did so and laid on the ground.
Trovato was transported to UMC Trauma with a gunshot wound to his elbow, and he remains hospitalized and in Metro Police custody, McGrath said.
Gleason and Salazar fired a total of 15 and 13 rounds, respectively, striking Trovato once. There is no evidence that Trovato fired his weapon, McGrath said, and Metro is investigating whether there was an issue with his firearm.
Trovato’s charges from the incident include two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a protected person, prohibited person in possession of a firearm and resisting an officer with a firearm. He was also booked on outstanding warrants, including possession of a gun by a prohibited person, possession of a controlled substance and trafficking of a controlled substance, McGrath said.
According to a release, both officers involved in the shooting have been put on routine administrative leave while a review of the incident is conducted.
The incident marks the department’s ninth officer-involved shooting of 2022 and the fourth nonfatal one. By this time last year, there had been five officer-involved shootings, three of which were nonfatal, McGrath said.
McGrath attributed the increased number of shootings to a more violent society, in which people are also more confrontational with police.
“Every time there's an officer-involved shooting or any critical incident, every captain … is talking to their officers about those incidents, and making sure they understand how important it is for them to consider that every car stop, every person stop, every call they can go on — it could change in the instant and then they could be involved in some kind of deadly use of force,” McGrath said.
