Officer shoots man downtown

Keith Paul

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 | 10:52 a.m.

A Metro Police officer shot and wounded a man in downtown Las Vegas this morning after, police say, the man swung at two officers with a pocket knife.

It marked the second officer-involved shooting this week.

A patrol officer was in the area of Fremont and Sixth streets near the El Cortez hotel about 4 a.m. when he saw a man jaywalking and stopped the man, police said.

The stop was part of a police and city push, begun Tuesday, to clean up a six-block area surrounding Fremont Street after years of complaints of street crime. The city wants to make the area an entertainment district with a line of restaurants and bars.

Police allege the man became "confrontational" with the officer, Capt. Dennis Cobb said.

He said the officer patted the man down and found a pocket knife. He took it from the man and put it on the hood of the police car. The man is accused of moving toward the officer several times when the officer told the man to remain where he was, Cobb said.

A second officer was called to the scene.

"Whey they tried to handcuff him, he began to struggle with the officers," Cobb said. "He was able to break free, lunged onto the hood of the (police) car and grabbed the knife."

Police allege the man swung the open 2- to 3-inch long blade at the first officer and missed, then swung the blade at the second officer.

The second officer "fired one shot hitting him in the abdomen," Cobb said.

The man, whose name was not released, was taken to University Medical Center and was in fair condition this morning.

The two officers were put on administrative leave with pay -- a routine procedure when an officer is involved in a shooting.

"There is an effort in that area, and the officers were told to pay attention to the Fremont Street area," Cobb said. "The officer saw this guy jaywalking and we have encouraged officers to at least stop people and inform them of the risks since we have had a number of pedestrians killed while jaywalking."

The shooting was the second officer-involved shooting this week. On Monday an officer shot and killed 40-year-old David A. Orr. Police said Orr confronted two officers with what they thought was a gun. It later was determined to be a BB gun.

In that shooting officers were in the area of Sierra Vista Drive and Cambridge Street when they found a 2 1/2-year-old child wandering in an alley about 11 p.m. Sunday.

The officers were taking the child into protective custody, and Orr, who said he was the father, confronted police. He left the area, police said, and returned with what appeared to be a gun. He raised the gun and was shot, Cobb said.

He was shot Monday about 12:05 a.m. and died at University Medical Center about 4:15 a.m. A Clark County coroner's inquest will be held to determine if the officer was justified in the shooting.