metro police
Nathaniel Sironen
Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020 | 8:06 p.m.
In an instant, two Metro Police officers shot and killed a burglar as he appeared to try to strike a homeowner with a hammer, body-worn camera released Thursday shows.
The shooting unfolded shortly after police showed up to find Nathaniel Sironen inside the home, holding the homeowners hostage in the 5100 block of Spanish Heights Drive, in a gated southwest valley neighborhood.
A pair of officers showed up a few minutes after a homeowner called to report an “intruder” inside her house about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, Assistant Sheriff Brett Zimmerman said.
Sironen, 40, triggered the home’s alarm when he entered an unlocked side door before a woman spotted the burglar downstairs, Zimmerman said.
Soon after arriving, Officer Melik Grego-Smith, 40, and Officer Dustin Xaypanya, 25, saw the burglar through a window, Zimmerman said.
“Oh yeah,” one of the officers related to the other. “There’s a dude inside.”
By this time, Sironen had confronted the homeowners, and when he saw the officers, he ordered the woman to grab the car keys because she was going to be “coming with him,” Zimmerman said.
As police rattled the doorknob, demanding that someone open, the male homeowner ran to do so successfully, footage shows. At one point, Sironen, who is believed to have burglarized an under-construction house and someone's shed, told the victims that he was looking to "score," Zimmerman said.
Sironen ran after him and raised a hammer over his head while the officers instructed him to drop it. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” one yelled before both fired their guns three times each.
It wasn’t clear how many times he was struck, but Sironen died at the scene. The homeowners were uninjured.
Had Sironen survived, he would’ve been booked on counts of burglary, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, Zimmerman said.
His previous criminal history includes destruction of property, Zimmerman said. In May he pleaded guilty in a case of possession of stolen property and theft, Las Vegas Justice Court records show. He got credit for serving a couple of days in jail.
The officers were placed on routine administrative leave while the probe is ongoing.
