Officer who killed suspect named

Keith Paul

Monday, Nov. 19, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

A rookie Metro Police officer who shot and killed a man accused of robbing more than 30 stores was identified this morning as Officer Bryan Yant.

Richard Travis Brown, 30, died about 9 a.m. Saturday at University Medical Center after he was shot several times near Charleston Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive.

Police say Brown was turning with a gun in his hand when Yant, 25, fired several times, Capt. Dennis Cobb said.

Brown had been identified as a suspect in more than 30 holdups of pizza shops, convenience stores and doughnut shops in the past month.

Brown is accused of robbing a convenience store in the 3700 block of South Valley View Boulevard about 3:20 a.m. Saturday. A few minutes later Yant spotted the car Brown was using to make his escape, Cobb said.

Cobb described the events leading to the shooting: Brown sped off, with Yant following in his police car. Brown lost control of his car, ran over a curb and struck a parked car in a parking lot. He righted his car and drove through the parking lot. He lost control again and spun out, coming to a stop in the middle of the intersection at Torrey Pines Drive and Bristol Way.

Brown started to run with Yant following. Police said Yant noticed Brown was reaching into his jacket for something.

"When you are in a chase and you notice both arms (on the suspect) aren't swinging, you know he is reaching for something," Cobb said. "It was relatively well-lit area. The suspect had been armed during the robbery that happened just a few minutes before. The officer saw (Brown's) arm coming around as they were running."

The shooting occurred about 40 to 50 yards from Brown's car, Cobb said.

Several robbery detectives had been watching another store late Friday night that they suspected Brown might try to rob. Brown had robbed a convenience store in the 900 block of South Rancho Drive earlier Friday -- hours before the robbery on South Valley View Boulevard, Lt. John Alamshaw, of Metro's robbery unit, said.

Police suspect Brown developed a drug habit and was robbing stores of relatively small amounts of cash to feed his addiction.

Alamshaw said security video of some of the more recent robberies in which Brown was accused showed him becoming more agitated during the robberies. This was contrasted by some of the earlier robberies, when he would apologize to the clerks as he was robbing them.

Brown seemed to know the police were closing in on him. Brown shaved his head and face in an apparent effort to change his appearance, Alamshaw said.

"He started committing more and more robberies," Alamshaw said. "There was no pattern."

Yant was put on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of a Clark County coroner's inquest, which will rule if the shooting was justified.

Yant was hired by Metro in September 2000 and had completed five months of academy training and another several months of field training with another officer.

Yant's name was not released until this morning, following department policy of not identifying officers for 48 hours after a shooting.