Snipers keep up position as Metro Police and SWAT officers are on the scene of shots fired on an RTC bus near N. Nellis Blvd. and E. Bonanza Road on Wednesday, August 30, 2017.
Published Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017 | 1:02 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017 | 5:40 p.m.
Metro Police have taken a man into custody after he allegedly fired multiple shots from inside a Las Vegas city bus in the northeast valley.
Police said no one was injured in the incident.
Police identified the shooter as 59-year-old Brett Sporich, who is being evaluated for mental competency.
Sporich, who was in a wheelchair, waved his gun around at the bus station before boarding the bus, police said. He will be booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a count of firing into an occupied structure.
He could face additional charges if witnesses come forward saying he pointed a gun at them or they find the gun wasn't his or was unregistered, police said.
Metro responded to the shooting near the intersection of Nellis and Bonanza roads at about 12:30 p.m. in response to multiple 911 calls reporting a man had discharged a firearm from inside the bus, said Metro spokesman Aden Ocampos-Gomez.
Sporich was barricaded on the bus until about 3:50 p.m., when police announced on social media that he was in custody. There were no passengers on the bus.
Regional Transportation Commission buses don’t offer a video circuit to allow authorities to see inside, although the commission has discussed implementing such a system since a fatal March shooting inside a bus on the Strip.
Ocampos-Gomez said he hoped Wednesday’s situation would encourage the transportation commission to move forward with that process.
“If we could see inside, it would make it much easier for us,” he said.
Nellis was shut down in both directions from Stewart to Washington avenues. Roadways have since reopened.
Eldorado High, Robison Middle and Stanford Elementary schools were shut down as a precautionary measure, a Clark County School District spokesman said. Dismissal times for the high school and middle school were delayed.
