Metro Police Undersheriff Kevin McMahill addresses the media at department headquarters Thursday, March 3, 2016, regarding an officer-involved shooting.
Thursday, March 3, 2016 | 6:45 p.m.
A Metro Police sergeant pleaded with a man to drop a gun, later determined to be fake, several times before shooting him Monday night, according to Metro Police.
It wasn't until Juan Carlos Lopez-Aguilar pulled a bullet from his pocket and pointed the gun at police that Sgt. William Matchko fired a round, Metro Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said today during a news conference.
Lopez-Aguilar, 42, survived the gunshot wound in his right shoulder, McMahill said.
According to McMahill:
An investigation later led police to determine that Lopez-Aguilar might have been intent on suicide by cop.
Police first were called about Lopez-Aguilar about 6:30 p.m. near St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard. The caller told police that Lopez-Aguilar was pacing and when asked if he was OK, he replied, "F--- this, I'm going to shoot some s--- and I'm going to kill something."
About an hour and 20 minutes later, 911 dispatch started to receive calls about Lopez-Aguilar in a neighborhood near Struzzo Avenue and Haven Street, near the M Resort.
A caller told police that Lopez-Aguilar, who was walking in the middle of the street, was "aggressively screaming," but the person could not understand what he was saying, and believed it was in Spanish.
Other residents and drivers told police that a man was aiming a gun and making clicking noises with it. He was no longer saying anything or threatening anyone, but was hitting himself in the forehead.
Officers, including Matchko, encountered Lopez-Aguilar at 8:12 p.m.
Matchko, who is a certified Spanish speaker and crisis-intervention specialist with Metro, started to command Lopez-Aguilar to drop the gun in both languages.
He was heard saying, "How can I help you? Tell me, please," in a video seen in the news conference.
Lopez-Aguilar did not respond, pointed the gun to his chest and head and raised it, "sweeping the muzzle" at officers.
Police did not shoot until he grabbed what they believed to be a bullet from his pocket, simulated putting it in the gun and pointing the gun at an officer.
Investigators later found the bullet, McMahill said.
Lopez-Aguilar fell to the ground and officers felt like the threat was eliminated, rushed toward him and kicked the gun away.
He was taken to University Medical Center where he remained today and was expected to survive.
He was booked in absentia into the Clark County Detention Center and is facing two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting police with a weapon.
Matchko "was trying to do literally everything that he could to not have to pull the trigger that particular day," McMahill said. "In reality at the time that he used deadly force, he felt that he had no other option."
Lopez-Aguilar faced charges of obstructing a police officer and trespassing in February. In California, he faced five misdemeanors between 2011 and 2014 and police are trying to find out more about him and his motive.
McMahill said he did not want to speculate on the man's mental health.
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