Sheriff Doug Gillespie meets with reporters July 16 to discuss recent officer-involved shootings. Gillespie asked the public for patience during the investigations.
Published Friday, July 16, 2010 | 2:12 p.m.
Updated Friday, July 16, 2010 | 5:42 p.m.
Metro Police news conference
Sheriff Doug Gillespie today asked for the public's patience while Metro Police investigate recent officer-involved shootings, the latest of which occurred Thursday night in the northwest valley.
Gillespie scheduled an afternoon news conference at City Hall in downtown Las Vegas to discuss the shootings, opening with a statement before taking questions from reporters. In his statement he said he wouldn't discuss specifics regarding any cases.
The sheriff added that he couldn't comment on last weekend's fatal shooting outside a Summerlin Costco because the incident remains under investigation. He said details would come out during a coroner's inquest, which hadn't been scheduled Friday.
Metro officers have been involved in 17 shootings this year, including five in the past 34 days. Two of the five shootings were fatal. Metro officers had been involved in 15 shootings by this time in 2009.
“We never know when we will have an officer-involved shooting, but at times, they do seem to come in succession,” he said.
The sheriff on Friday didn’t say whether he thought any specific factors might have played a role in the high number of recent officer-involved shootings.
The sheriff said expediting the investigations wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone, adding that such investigations take time to conduct thoroughly. He asked the public to be patient before making assumptions about the shootings.
“I am committed to being open and transparent,” he said.
Gillespie extended condolences to the families and friends of those fatally wounded by police officers.
"You truly have my sympathy," he said. "It is never easy losing a loved one, no matter what the circumstances.
“I know you want answers, and you want them now,” he said. “I ask you for your patience and trust…as we let the process take its course.”
Gillespie also expressed sympathy for the officers. “You truly live with your actions forever,” he said, adding that the decision to use “deadly force” is difficult.
Gillespie noted the department launches an investigation each time an officer shoots a weapon, regardless of whether anyone is injured.
Thursday night's officer-involved shooting was the second in six days involving Metro officers.
Officers responded at 10:02 p.m. Thursday to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 3900 block of Applecrest Street after a woman reported that her boyfriend was outside their home and armed with a handgun.
Police said the man, identified as 27-year-old Jason Vanbuskirk, fired at police officers, prompting three officers to return fire. Vanbuskirk was critically wounded and remained at University Medical Center today, police said. No officers were injured.
Vanbuskirk was booked in absentia into the Clark County Detention Center on three counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of attempted murder with a weapon. Additional charges could be filed, police said.
Police tape blocks an entrance at a Costco store in Summerlin after a shooting Saturday, July 10, that left a man dead. Sheriff Doug Gillespie discussed recent shootings Friday afternoon involving Metro officers.
On Saturday, officers shot a man outside a Summerlin Costco store who they said had pointed a gun at an officer. Three officers fired their weapons, killing 38-year-old Erik Scott, of Las Vegas.
Authorities have 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 who approached Scott noticed the pistol and gave him verbal commands to lay on the ground, police said.
After Scott allegedly 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. Statements from some witnesses and family members have contradicted Metro's description of events.
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.
The officers involved Thursday night's shooting haven't been identified.
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