Man reported to be suicidal shot, injured by police near UNLV

By Brian Nordli

Published Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013 | 10:47 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013 | 4:57 p.m.

Metro Police officers were trying to arrest a suicidal man Monday night near UNLV, but they wound up shooting him after he allegedly reached for a shotgun, according to a police report.

The encounter happened a little before 10 p.m. Monday at 3217 E. University Ave., near Harmon Avenue and Pecos Road. The shooting sent Jose Aguilar to Sunrise Hospital with injuries that didn't appear to be life threatening. He was in stable condition.

A Metro arrest report indicates the following:

Earlier that night, a man called Metro reporting that his roommate, Aguilar, was threatening to commit suicide by injecting himself with insulin for a dog. When officers arrived and called to Aguilar in the house, he sounded as if he was beginning to drift off.

His roommate said Aguilar, 39, had already injected himself with poison.

After officers called out to him several more times, Aguilar descended the stairs, pointing a shotgun at the officers, the report said. Police retreated outside and attempted to coax Aguilar outside. Eventually, he stepped outside carrying the shotgun and waved it at the officers, the report said.

Police then ordered Aguilar to lie on the ground and to put down the shotgun. Aguilar complied after multiple orders, but when the officers approached him, he jumped up and reached for his gun.

Two officers fired shots, hitting Aguilar in the lower body. Aguilar attempted to jump up again a second time, but an officer was able to knock him to the ground and arrest him.

Aguilar was booked in absentia into Clark County Detention Center on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and one count of resisting a public officer with a weapon.

Officer Bill Cassell said the officers involved in Monday night’s incident will be identified in two days. They have been placed on routine administrative leave pending a formal review of the officer-involved shooting, Metro’s 18th such incident this year.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Ana Ley contributed to this report.