Officers say man pointed his gun at them

Keith Paul

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

The two Metro Police officers who shot a gun-wielding man Saturday were identified this morning as Samuel Solorio and Michael Maloof.

Solorio, 23, and Maloof, 29, were called to a domestic dispute in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 5800 block of Meikle Lane about 2 a.m. A caller told a dispatcher a man and woman were arguing in the parking lot of the complex near Nellis and Lake Mead boulevards, and the man had a gun.

Solorio and Maloof found the man -- 18-year-old Roy Palmer -- between two apartment buildings and sitting against one of the buildings with the gun in his hand, police said.

The officers repeatedly told Palmer to drop the gun. Instead, police said, Palmer raised the gun and pointed it at the two officers.

The officers fired several shots, hitting Palmer in the chest, right thigh, calf and foot. After he was shot, Palmer ran to the rear of the apartment building, where he collapsed. Palmer's handgun was recovered at the scene, police said.

He was listed in serious condition this morning at University Medical Center. Palmer was booked in absentia on three counts of attempted murder of a police officer with a weapon.

Solorio and Maloof, both officers for a little more than a year, were put on routine administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of a use-of-force board hearing to determine if the shooting was within department guidelines.

Saturday's shooting is the fifth time this year a Metro officer has shot someone during an incident. The only fatality this year was 23-year-old John Charles O'Banion, shot on Feb. 5 after a car and foot chase.

Officers Zachary Huffine, 23, and Shane Withham, 31, were cleared in the shooting by a Clark County coroner's inquest.

O'Banion was hiding behind a car with a gun as officers were searching for him. He rose up from his hiding place with a gun in his hand and apparently tried to fire at an approaching officer. Huffine and Withham, poised on a roof of a nearby house, fired several shots, killing him.