Man shoots, kills burglar

Keith Paul

Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

A 60-year-old man got into a shootout with an armed burglar in his southwest Las Vegas home this morning, killing the intruder while escaping injury, Metro Police said.

Police captured a second suspect after a car chase from the house and were taking him to the Clark County jail this morning.

The resident told police he and his wife were awakened about 5 a.m. by their dog barking in the house in the 3200 block of South Tenaya Way near Flamingo Road. The resident, whom police didn't name, got his handgun and went downstairs to investigate, said Lt. Wayne Petersen of Metro's homicide unit.

The resident noticed the door to the den was closed and it shouldn't have been.

"He opened the door, and he said an armed intruder came at him. There is a gunfight, an exchange of (bullets), and the suspect is hit and dies at the scene," Petersen said. "The (resident) is not hit at all."

Detectives are still investigating the shooting, but Petersen said it appears to be a "clear case of self-defense."

According to Nevada law, people can defend themselves from deadly force in their homes, said Chris Owens, a chief deputy Clark County district attorney.

Owens, speaking in general and not about this morning's shooting, said a resident who shot and killed an armed intruder inside his home would be acting in self-defense and the killing would be considered justified.

Another intruder apparently ran from the house and was seen by arriving officers getting into a sport utility vehicle. The officers yelled for him to stop, but he fled, Petersen said.

Officers chased the man to the area of Charleston and Decatur boulevards, where he was blocked by police cars.

Police arrested Laron White, 19, of Las Vegas, who faces charges of burglary, conspiracy, robbery and felony murder, Petersen said.

White had a cut on his arm. He was treated at University Medical Center and released into police custody.

Detectives suspect when the two burglars broke a window in the rear of the house, one of them cut himself on the glass.

"We found blood throughout the house," Petersen said.

Several of the rooms in the house had been ransacked, police said.

Police were still trying to identify the slain suspect this morning. He appeared to be in his late teens or early 20s, police said.

Detectives were told of reports of other burglaries in the area in recent weeks. In a couple of those break-ins, an armed intruder was reported.

Petersen said the description of the suspect in the past burglaries appears to match the slain man.