Officers kill robbery suspect; girl, 13, hurt

Jace Radke

Tuesday, July 11, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

Four Metro Police officers shot and killed a robbery suspect and wounded the passenger in his car, a 13-year-old runaway girl, late Monday after he tried to run over an officer, witnesses said.

Officers reportedly ordered the man to stop his gray Nissan at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Swenson Street shortly after 11:15 p.m., but when the car continued toward the officer, police opened fire, Capt. Greg Jolley said.

The slain robbery suspect is believed to be a 19-year-old man from Bakersfield, Calif., but police were still trying to verify his identity this morning. A sawed-off rifle was found by the driver's seat, and a revolver was found on the girl, police said.

"We have several witnesses who said that it was an obvious attempt to run over the officer," Jolley said. "We believe the suspect was armed, but we're uncertain if he fired at an officer."

The shooting was the result of a robbery that occurred minutes earlier at the Rum Runner Lounge, 1801 E. Tropicana Ave., Jolley said.

"Seven patrons were in the bar, and they say a man in a ski mask tried to rob the bartender," Jolley said. "We had a description of the vehicle, and patrol and unmarked units observed the Nissan minutes after the robbery."

Several gang unit detectives were in the area and saw the man with a ski mask run out of the bar. They ordered him to stop, but he got into his car and sped away, police said.

About four minutes after the robbery the Nissan came to a stop in the far right westbound lane of Tropicana at Swenson. Police converged on the traffic-congested intersection from all directions, witnesses said.

"There was one officer who was headed east on Tropicana, and he had a hard time getting across the intersection because of the people turning left from Swenson to go west on Tropicana," said Garry Rumery, a cabdriver who was stopped at the intersection. "He made his way across and parked in the center lane and jumped out of his car with his gun drawn."

Rumery, who was on his way to drop off his North Las Vegas cab at the company's yard, said he heard the officer order the driver to stop.

"He yelled at him to stop, but he didn't, and then I saw the officer shoot," Rumery said. "I got down then, and all I could hear was blam, blam, blam."

The Nissan was behind a large Cadillac in the right lane and tried to move into another lane to escape police, but there wasn't enough room, Jolley said.

The right front of the Nissan hit the back of the Cadillac as it tried to move into the adjacent lane, putting the officer in its path, Jolley said.

"We're trying to determine how many shots were fired and who fired from where," Jolley said. "Numerous officers did fire."

The 13-year-old passenger, a runaway from Bakersfield, was in the car and shot at least once. She was listed in fair condition this morning at University Medical Center. It is not known what the girl's relationship was to the driver, police said.

Mona Lisa Govatas and Tiffany Reinertsen also were headed west on Tropicana and were stopped at the Swenson stoplight when they heard what they thought was an accident before realizing something much more dangerous was happening.

"There was some tires screeching and a crashing noise, so we thought it was a wreck, but then people were running," Reinertsen said. "A police officer reached over into our convertible and told us to get down, so we got down on the floor, and then we heard a lot of gunfire."

Reinertsen was unsure how many shots were fired, but said it sounded like more than one gun firing. When the officer came back and told the two friends they could get up, Reinertsen said she couldn't believe what she saw.

"I just went numb because when we got out, there were bullet holes all over (the Nissan)," Reinertsen said. "There were two people shot. We were just so lucky that we weren't shot.

"I've never seen anything like that, and it scared me to death."

About six cars were stopped on westbound Tropicana at the intersection, and Reinertsen said that after the shock of the shooting, many of the bystanders became angry.

"Some were saying that the people who were shot got what they deserved, but nobody deserves that," Reinertsen said. "They were just angry because all these bullets had been flying around, and they were scared."

Some officers on the scene were plainclothes officers, but they all had identifiable police uniforms on when the shooting occurred, Metro homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

The shooting shut down all travel lanes on Tropicana between Paradise Road and Maryland Parkway for more than three hours as Metro vehicles crowded into the intersection, giving it the appearance of a parking lot.

The four officers who fired will be placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, Jolley said. Metro will not release the officers' names for 48 hours, per department policy.

The shooting was the ninth time this year that a Metro officer has fired a weapon in the line of duty. There were 15 Metro officer-involved shootings last year.

The last time Metro Police shot and killed someone was on Feb. 5, when Officers Zachary Huffine, 23, and Shane Witham, 31, fired several shots and killed 23-year-old John Charles O'Banion as he tried to fire a gun at other officers in the driveway of a house near Torrey Pines Drive and Washington Avenue.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury ruled in March that the shooting was justified.

Sun reporter Keith Paul contributed to this report.