Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Metro Police:

One man dead in Metro Police shooting

Officer-involved shooting

Paul Takahashi

Police have an area cordoned off near the Ross Dress for Less store at 2420 E. Desert Inn Road, where an officer-involved shooting occurred Monday afternoon, Oct. 29, 2012.

Updated Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 | 7:55 p.m.

Metro shooting at Ross store

KSNV reports on a Metro Police shooting that left one man dead at a central Las Vegas Valley Ross store on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.

Officer-involved shooting

A man was fatally shot by Metro Police behind a retail store in the central valley on Monday.

Police were called to the scene of a shooting in a parking lot outside the Ross Dress for Less store, 2420 E. Desert Inn Road, at about 3 p.m., according to Deputy Chief Kathleen O'Connor. There, officers found a homeless man who had been shot in his right hand. The assailant — whom the homeless man described to police as a white or Hispanic man — was in an alley behind the store, he said.

Officers went to the back of the store and located the suspect near the loading dock. Officers gave commands to the man, but instead of obeying them, he produced a handgun from his waistband, police said.

Three Metro officers then shot at the man "in order to stop his actions," police said. The man fell to the pavement and dropped the gun.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. A gun was located near his body, police said.

O'Connor said officers were on "heightened alert" because of the shooting in the front of the store. None of the officers was injured.

No one inside the store was in danger at any time during the shooting, O'Connor said. The homeless man was taken by ambulance to Sunrise Hospital's trauma center.

Police cordoned off the area where the shooting occurred. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson was at the scene, which also included about 10 police cruisers, an ambulance and a Metro mobile command center truck.

The three officers, who have not yet been identified, have been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Per Metro policy, the names of those officers will be released after 48 hours.

Sun reporter Will D’Urso contributed to this story.

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