NLV officer wounded in shootout

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

A North Las Vegas Police officer was wounded in the shoulder Tuesday night when two officers came under fire, police said, marking the second time this month a Las Vegas Valley cop has been shot.

The two officers fired several shots at the suspect, identified as Juan Villes, 40, hitting him once in the thigh. Villes was treated at University Medical Center and released into police custody. He was in jail this morning, facing charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

The wounded officer, who was not identified, was treated at UMC for a minor shoulder injury and released.

The confrontation started about 10 p.m. after three Special Operations Division officers, driving in the 2500 block of Belmont Street near Carey Avenue, saw a man near a car acting suspiciously, said Lt. Art Redcay, a department spokesman.

The officers made a U-turn in the car and two of the officers got out to approach the man. The officers walked by the car and heard a hissing sound coming from one of the tires, Redcay said.

The man started to walk away as the officers ordered him to stop. The man walked into an apartment complex and entered one of the units through an open door. The officers looked into the apartment and ordered the man to come outside, Redcay said.

The man tried to close the apartment door, but the officers pushed the door open.

"As the door swung open, the officers observed the subject pulling a firearm from his side," Redcay said.

The officers pulled their guns, and the man and the officers started firing almost simultaneously, police said.

After the suspecte crawled out of a rear window, he was caught at the rear of one of the buildings by one of the officers called as backup.

Both officers were placed on paid administrative leave and their names were withheld for 48 hours, per police department policy.

The shooting comes about two weeks after a Metro Police officer was shot in the head and the chest by the brother-in-law of rapper Snoop Dogg.

Officer Brian Briggs was saved when one of the shots hit his bullet-resistant vest and the other grazed the side of his head. Germaine E. Fuller, 29, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted wound after an 11-hour standoff.