Man killed by police was ailing

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 10:41 a.m.

The man who was killed Tuesday morning by Metro Police was in failing health, which might have sparked the violence at his southwest Las Vegas home, neighbors said.

Albert Delmendo said his next-door neighbor, 45-year-old Arcangelito Contreras, had kidney failure and received dialysis treatments three times a week. He was hoping for a kidney transplant, but in the meantime, he used a motorized scooter to get around when he was fatigued.

"That's probably why he was so distressed," Delmendo said Tuesday afternoon while the man's wife was being comforted by his family inside. "It's understandable for a sick person to get angry quick."

But at the same time, he said he had no idea why this happened. Other than last night and this morning, Delmendo said, he knew of no other violent incidents at his neighbor's house.

Delmendo said the family had their ups and downs, but Contreras, who went by the nickname "Lito," "was a nice person," he said. "I have never heard anything negative about him."

Capt. Tom Lozich said Contreras' behavior became erratic Monday night when he fired a gun into the air, but Contreras' wife, Linda, apparently did not call police that night.

When the couple's 14-year-old son woke up shortly before 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Contreras allegedly hit the teen with a hammer then smashed some belongings in their 3,313-square-foot house in the 6600 block of Crown Rock Court near Robindale Road and Rainbow Boulevard.

Linda Contreras called 911, then she and her son ran to Delmendo's house, police said.

When two patrol officers arrived, they found Contreras seated on a motorized scooter in the garage. The officers told investigators they watched him as he loaded his .44-caliber revolver.

Standing a few yards away, they pleaded for Contreras to drop the gun, Lozich said. But he allegedly leveled it at them and they opened fire, killing him.

Linda Contreras and her son returned to the neighborhood in the early afternoon and went into Delmendo's house. Linda Contreras declined to be interviewed. Later, her son was riding his bicycle up and down the street. When approached by a reporter, he said his mother told him not to talk to the media.

In his garage, Delmendo said Linda Contreras was inside and was distraught.

Jay Choensookasem, who lives two doors away from Linda Contreras, said she heard the shots Monday night and heard "pop, pop, pop, a bunch of times" Tuesday morning, sending her five dogs into a frenzy.

She said she was surprised when she found out her neighbor was dead.

"He was real sick," she said.

A woman who lives across the street, who declined to give her name, said she was awakened Tuesday morning by a neighbor's yellow Labrador retriever barking, then she heard between five and six shots. She thought someone had shot the dog.

She and her husband, who also did not give his name, said the Contreras family was like every other family on the street.

They said they didn't know the family well and just spoke in passing and at the annual block party. However, the man's health problems were well-known. They said he had diabetes as well as kidney failure.

"It's a very quiet neighborhood, and that's why it's so unsettling," the man said.

Lozich said there was no indication that this was a case of "suicide by cop," in which a person acts in a threatening manner toward police to prompt police to shoot.

Last month at the Hoover Dam, a suicidal man allegedly tried to get police to shoot him by saying he had a gun. The man ultimately jumped off the dam to his death.

Contreras was the 14th person slain by Metro Police this year through Tuesday, Lozich said. Six of the incidents were fatal.

The names of the officers in Tuesday's shooting were being withheld for 48 hours, following departmental policy. They will be on routine administrative leave until the coroner's inquest, which has not yet been scheduled.