Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

LAW ENFORCEMENT:

Metro IDs officers in fatal shooting at Summerlin Costco

Summerlin Costco Shooting

Metro crime scene investigators, officers and detectives mill about the entrance of the Costco store in Summerlin after the shooting July 10, 2010. Launch slideshow »

Shooting location

Metro Police on Monday said a man fatally shot by officers at a Costco store in Summerlin had pointed a gun at an officer before three officers fired their weapons, killing the man.

Police identified the three officers in the Saturday shooting as Officer William Mosher, 38, who has been with the department since June 2005; Officer Joshua Stark, 28, with the department since September 2008; and Officer Thomas Mendiola, 23, with the department since March 2009.

All officers are part of the Northwest Area Command Patrol Division. The Clark County Coroner's Office has identified the man killed as Erik Scott, 38, of Las Vegas.

Authorities said a Costco employee called 911 to report a man acting erratically in the store, damaging merchandise and carrying a pistol in his waistband. An officer approached the man, identified as Scott, then noticed the pistol and gave him verbal commands to lay on the ground, police said.

After Scott pointed the pistol at an officer, the officers fired at him, striking him multiple times, police said. He died at University Medical Center a short time later.

The officers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave during the investigation, which is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings.

Metro Police on Monday said witness accounts match the officers' description of events, but a lawyer representing Scott's family denied police reports Monday that the man had pulled out a handgun and pointed it at police.

Attorney Ross Goodman, a criminal defense lawyer and son of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, said Scott had a concealed weapon permit.

"He did not pull a handgun," Goodman said. "All the witnesses we've heard from have said he did not make any threatening gestures, and didn't do anything that could be construed as acting in a threatening manner."

Goodman said he expects that surveillance videos and a coroner's inquest will show that the shooting near the entrance of Costco was neither justifiable nor excusable. Only one officer has been found to have acted improperly since 1976.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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