Man killed after lunging at police with sword

Monday, Dec. 20, 2004 | 9:31 a.m.

A 48-year-old man was shot and killed by Metro Police Friday night after the man lunged with a sword at an officer, police said.

The man's roommate called police at 5:44 p.m. Friday to the house on the 4600 block of Calderwood.

A woman told officers her roommate was "acting in a bizarre and agitated manner," a police statement said.

The man ran inside the house brandishing a sword.

An officer tried to talk to the man and disarm him. When that failed, several officers fired Tasers to subdue him, police said.

The man attacked one officer with the sword, and the officer fired, striking the man, who then was taken to University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The coroner's office said it would release the man's name after the family had been notified.

The name of the officer, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, will be released in 48 hours, under department policy.

This was the fifth officer-involved shooting in the Las Vegas Valley since October.

A woman who could not be stopped by a police Taser or low lethality "bean bag" shotgun blast was shot and wounded by police on Thursday at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of North Decatur Avenue after the woman allegedly threatened police with a knife.

The woman, Toni Card, 47, was treated at University Medical Center and released Thursday night. Authorities booked Card into the Clark County Detention Center on $13,000 bail. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and resisting a police officer with a weapon, police said.

Two Metro Police officers, James Breed and Sasha Kaster, shot and wounded Las Vegas resident David Martin, who they believed had been involved in a shooting at a Flamingo Road bar on Nov. 25, after a short foot chase. A Clark County Coroner's jury has not yet determined whether or not the shooting was justified.

The officers shot David Martin, 27, after Martin failed to stop for police as he drove away from the Boston Bar in the 1000 block of Flamingo at Cambridge Avenue, police said.

On Oct. 12, Metro police officers Gary Torsky and Joey Hernandez fatally shot Archangelito Contreras at the victim's house. Contreras, who allegedly told police officers that he was suffering from a terminal illness, pointed a .44-caliber revolver at one of the officers and they opened fire, killing him.

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, North Las Vegas Police officer Mike Carmody shot and killed Antonio Corona-Mendoza after Corona-Mendoza opened fire on the officer. That shooting was also determined to be justified.