Cop who killed man was victim in another shooting

Keith Paul

Thursday, June 27, 2002 | 9:30 a.m.

A Metro Police officer who shot and killed a man Monday morning, himself had been wounded in a shooting last year in the same area of the city.

Officer Michael McNamee, 31, will remain on paid administrative leave until a Clark County coroner's inquest determines if Monday's shooting death of David A. Orr was justified. No date has been set for the inquest.

McNamee fired after Orr, 40, allegedly came at officers with a gun shortly after midnight Monday morning. Police later found that Orr's weapon was actually a BB gun made to resemble a real handgun.

"It is unfortunate that this man, in the dark, confronted police with what looked like, and what the officers believed, was a gun," Sheriff Jerry Keller said. "Officers don't have to get shot or stabbed first before they protect themselves, but it is unfortunate the man was shot and died."

On Jan. 28, 2001, McNamee was hit in the head and shoulder with a shotgun blast, and Sgt. Matthew McCarthy was shot in the shoulder with an assault rifle when they and another officer tried to enter an apartment on Swenson Street.

The officers were going to the apartment checking on the report of shots being fired. One suspect surrendered to police and another suspect was found dead in the apartment from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a lengthy standoff, police said.

McNamee, an officer since March 2000, McCarthy and eight other officers were given the Medal of Valor for their actions during the incident. McNamee and McCarthy also were given the Purple Heart.

On Sunday McNamee and other officers said they found a 2 1/ 2-year-old boy wandering in an alley in the area of Sierra Vista Drive and Cambridge Street in the neighborhood of Swenson Street in southern Las Vegas.

The officers were taking the child into protective custody when Orr came to the area saying he was the child's father, police said. One of the officers left to get a child car seat, and two other officers also left the area.

Police said Orr became hostile with the remaining officers as they put the boy in the back of a police car. They said Orr left the area and returned a short time later with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.

McNamee and Officer Anthony Coleman ordered him to drop the gun. McNamee fired one shot when Orr allegedly raised the gun, Capt. Dennis Cobb said.

The head of the police union said McNamee did exactly what he was trained to do when faced with a threat.

"I would expect 100 times out of 100 that officers would do the same thing," said Detective David Kallas, executive director of the Police Protective Association, the union for police officers, detectives and corrections officers. "The threat was Mr. Orr and what he had in his hand looked like a real gun."