Man critical after being shot by officer

Jace Radke

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 11:32 a.m.

A man believed to be in his 30s was in critical condition this morning after being shot by a Metro Police officer just east of the Strip's Wynn Las Vegas resort construction project.

Capt. Tom Lozich said the officer told investigators that he shot the man because the man had lunged at him with a "military-type combat knife."

The shooting occurred about 4:30 a.m. in the parking lot behind the Sugartree Apartments at 655 Sierra Vista Drive just south of Desert Inn Road at Swenson Street.

The officer had been patrolling the area and apparently had driven around to the back of the building when he noticed a man involved in some "suspicious activity" the parking lot so he pulled in and tried to question the man, Lozich said.

The officer told investigators that man walked away from him, and "the officer gave repeated commands for him to come back but he did not respond," Lozich said.

The man opened the driver's side door of a car in the parking lot and apparently retrieved the knife from the car, Lozich said.

The officer said the man "turned on the officer with the knife and ignored orders to drop it. He then lunged at the officer with the knife and the officer fired several rounds striking the individual," Lozich said.

Lozich said this morning that he did not know how many rounds were fired or how many shots struck the man.

"I don't know how close they were but they were close enough that the officer felt like he was in a life-threatening situation," Lozich said.

Howard McKnight, who has lived at the Sugartree Apartments since 2000, said the shooting woke him up this morning.

He said he heard four consecutive shots.

"They all came one after another, and I didn't know what was going on. I didn't hear any commands, but once I heard the shots I decided to stay in my apartment," McKnight said.

He said the car connected to the man who was shot is a white Chevy Cavalier that was parked in McKnight's space this morning.

He said he had not seen the car at the complex before, and he would have noticed it if it had been because the complex is only half-full and he "pretty much knows everybody" who stays there.

The apartments rent for about $500 a month, but it's a rough area, McKnight said.

"It's always been bad around here," he said. "I always make sure that when the sun goes down, I'm inside my apartment. Everybody around here knows there is a problem with drugs, and the cops know it too. I can't remember any other shootings this year but there have been shootings in the past and there are always fights."