Police report offers details into officer-involved shooting outside Dotty’s

By Brian Nordli

Tuesday, March 11, 2014 | 1:20 p.m.

Jason “Lucky” Mahe was inside Dotty’s Casino on Rancho Drive when the Metro Police officers tracked him down.

But the night wasn’t lucky for him; Mahe wound up being shot by police.

This morning, authorities released a Metro arrest report detailing the events that led to the March 4 shooting:

Metro had received reports about midnight that a man nicknamed Lucky had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store, and they wanted to question him. The store clerk said when the man with the bogus money left the store, he went next door to the Dotty’s at 1600 N. Rancho Drive

Inside Dotty’s the officers came across a man wearing blue jeans, but he said he wasn’t carrying identification. The officers asked him to step outside to verify his identity.

On the way out, the man began to run. Police caught him, but in a struggle he wiggled free and pulled out what looked like a handgun from the waistband on his pants. The three officers responded, shooting him several times.

Later, officers learned the handgun was actually a pellet gun. They also learned Mahe was wanted on a parole violation warrant in Ohio. He had told his friend that he wouldn’t let police take him alive if they caught him, the report said.

Mahe was arrested on the warrant and booked in absentia at the Clark County Detention Center while he received treatment at University Medical Center. Police are describing the shooting as an attempted “suicide by cop.”

After the incident, Metro investigators determined Mahe had been sleeping at a friend’s home for the two days prior to the shooting. The friend believed Mahe had been using heroin and had been acting strangely, claiming people were talking about him behind his back, the report said.

On the night of the shooting, the friend said Mahe had taken his Jeep without permission. The friend said he had texted Mahe that if the Jeep wasn’t returned in the morning, he’d call police and report it stolen.

The friend consented to a search of his house, where detectives also uncovered 11 assorted car keys that had been filed down and were commonly used to break into cars, the report said. They also found numerous syringes, matches and a bag containing a black tar-like substance.

Police booked Mahe on one count each of resisting a police officer with a deadly weapon, grand larceny automobile and possession of burglary tools.

Mahe’s case is under review and charges have not yet been filed, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.