Man shot by Metro officer during foot chase has extensive criminal history

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Friday, July 21, 2017 | 7 p.m.

Three yards separate an officer from an armed man he’s chasing through the parking lot of a busy northwest valley shopping center when the suspect suddenly turns and points a gun at him.

In a “split-second” decision, Officer Jeffrey Burr — who’d seen the man grab the gun from his waistband as they ran — fired five times, critically wounding Giuseppe Russo, said Metro Assistant Sheriff Todd Fasulo Friday afternoon.

Russo, 30, a twice convicted felon with an extensive arrest history in Clark County, remains at University Medical Center in critical but stable condition, while Burr, 29, is on paid administrative leave as the investigation continues, Fasulo said.

Images from the dramatic incident, captured on a store’s security system and the officer’s body-worn camera, were showed by Fasulo during the briefing, which also shed more light on Tuesday’s shooting.

Only 43 seconds elapsed between Burr’s first encounter with Russo and gunfire, Fasulo said.

Police received a call at 1:52 p.m. to the shopping center at 6700 North Durango Drive regarding three people in a car watching customers enter and exit a store, Fasulo said.

Upon a search of the license plate number before Burr arrived, police determined the car had been stolen three days prior, Fasulo said.

At 1:58 p.m., Burr parks in front of the tan-colored Lexus sedan, giving Russo, who is standing near the car, commands to get in front of the officer’s SUV. “Get in front of the car right now … hands on top of your head!” Burr says.

Russo appears to be complying but then takes off on foot, running through cars, jumping over one of them. “Get on the ground!” Burr yells out several times as he closes the distance.

Russo continues running, passing the entrance of a Kohl’s department store when, all of a sudden, he turns and points a gun at Burr, who fires his Glock 17 and strikes him five times in his arm and hip area, Fasulo says.

As this was going on, the shopping center was busy with “a lot of people, a lot of cars,” Fasulo said. “He could have, instead of staying outside, run back inside that store.”

The officer’s obligation at that point was to attempt to stop a man who’d been linked to felony crimes, such as the stolen Lexus — which was taken in a pair of burglaries in which the gun Russo carried also was stolen — so he sees the weapon and knows the incident could rise to the use of deadly force, Fasulo said. “I’m glad that he did think that quick.”

Burr and arriving officers tended to Russo, who lay critically wounded, placing a tourniquet on his arm before medics arrived, Fasulo said.

The two men who’d earlier been with Russo, including 26-year-old Andrew Verdi, were placed in police custody nearby after the shooting.

Verdi is booked at the Clark County Detention Center on a drug charge, jail logs show. Russo also was booked there in absentia on one count each of assault on a protected person with a deadly weapon, carrying and concealing a weapon without a permit and being a felon in possession of a weapon.

In 2010, Russo was convicted in two cases, for assault with a deadly weapon in one, and burglary in the other.

From 2012 to 2014 he had several arrests in Clark County, including on counts of domestic battery, assault with a deadly weapon, drug possession, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, Fasulo said.

Fasulo on Friday afternoon reminded the public to secure firearms they own. This incident is a “great reminder and a good example as to why every gun owner should be a responsible gun owner and keep their guns locked inside of their house, and also keep a lock on the trigger. That way, we don’t have potential victims where that gun is used against, either in innocent citizens or one of our officers.”

This was the 12th shooting involving a Metro officer this year — the sixth nonfatal — compared to six during the same time period last year, Fasulo said.