A photo of homicide suspect Jarrett Blakely Varnado is shown on a video monitor as Metro Police Deputy Chief Chris Jones speaks during a news conference at Metro Police Headquarters Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017.
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 | 6:50 p.m.
Five weeks removed from the night in which a Metro SWAT team breached the Oct. 1 shooter’s 32nd floor hotel suite, a pair of those officers stormed the room of another suspect in an unrelated murder case.
But this time, when the officers entered a dark, dingy second-floor room, they found Jarrett Blakely Varnado — who police said killed his next-door neighbors hours earlier — armed and still alive, Deputy Chief Chris Jones said Thursday.
Sgt. Joshua Bitsko was handling a K-9 that Varnado, 35, was holding down when the cops entered the locked bedroom about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, and Levi Hancock was one of two officers who fatally shot the suspect when he pointed a gun — later determined to be a replica of a Walther PPK — at officers, Jones said.
A second gun, a loaded .25-caliber Beretta, was found underneath the suspect, police said.
Hancock, 43, and Kai Hoskins, 32, each fired one round, Jones said. Bitsko did not shoot, but his arm can be seen on body-camera footage as he tried to bat down the suspect’s gun, Jones said.
The incident began with a 911 call about a man’s body lying by a flower bed in a front lawn at 7383 Newcrest Circle, near Tenaya Way and Flamingo Road, Jones said. Officers found a second man’s body inside the house, where both victims lived.
An initial investigation determined that the men were involved in a unspecified neighborhood dispute with Varnado, Jones said. So investigators directed their attention to the next-door house.
Several phone and bullhorn calls to Vernado yielded no response, but when the suspect's family arrived and opened the garage, they found one of the victim's Chevrolet Cruze, Jones said.
A search warrant was approved and SWAT officers arrived about 9 p.m. Additional attempts to contact Vernado, including playing a recording of his mother pleading for him to come out, proved fruitless, Jones said.
At 12:34 a.m., Metro positioned an armored vehicle in front of the house, Jones said. Sometime after, a robot, a K-9 and officers, cleared the first floor. They moved upstairs and cleared every room except the locked bedroom.
Body-worn cameras broadcast Thursday show the dark and cluttered room, which was only illuminated by an officer's flashlight.
Officers struggle with Vernado. The dog is pulled back. An officer yells, "Gun!" and one round is followed by another seconds later.
Screenshots show Vernado's hand holding a gun, and Bitsko trying to bat it away before gunfire erupts.
Jones said that before the shooting, the gunman pointed his gun at two of the officers. Vernado died at University Medical Center.
Hoskins was hired by Metro in 2006, and Hancock has been with the department since 2001. They were placed on paid administrative leave — standard practice in shootings involving officers — while the investigation continues.
If Vernado, who has a criminal history in Nevada and California, had survived, he would have been charged with two counts of murder with a deadly weapon, burglary, auto theft, assault with a deadly weapon on an officer, and resisting arrest while armed, Jones said.
This was the 20th officer-involved involving Metro this year.
