Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Police: Officer shoots man brandishing pellet gun

Updated Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 | 3:58 p.m.

An officer shot a man who yelled “die” as he charged at police Wednesday night with what was later determined to be a pellet gun, Metro Police Capt. Kelly McMahill said.

The shooting was reported about 7:45 p.m. in the 100 block of Moonlight Drive, near Charleston and Lamb boulevards, police said. As of early Thursday, the man remained at University Medical Center in stable condition, police said.

The confrontation started as a domestic violence call earlier in the night, McMahill said. Officers responded to take a report from the reported victim, the suspect’s girlfriend, but didn’t find the man in the house and left, McMahill said.

The woman later called police again to accompany her to retrieve items from the home she shared with the suspect, McMahill said. The woman told authorities she “was positive that if the male was home, he would be violent against police officers,” McMahill said.

While the officers were with the woman, the suspect began to communicate through a video doorbell from an unknown location, repeatedly saying that he would “kill officers,” McMahill said.

The man subsequently arrived at the house, crashed a pickup truck into the back of an unoccupied police cruiser, which he reportedly also shot, McMahill said. Officers trying to escort the woman outside, suddenly encountered the suspect, she said.

That’s when the suspect, who was brandishing the pellet gun, screamed “die” and charged at the officers, McMahill said. One of the officers fired multiple rounds, striking the man at least once, she said.

Further details will be provided later, but it may take longer than the normal 72 hours because of the investigation taking place following the Oct. 1 mass shooting on the Strip, McMahill said.