NHP says drug deal preceded trooper’s fatal shooting of man — VIDEO

Last week’s fatal shooting involving a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper began with a drug deal, the agency said Thursday.

Trooper Shawn Peckham, 32, shot and killed Matthew Gibbon, 41, early Friday in a parking lot off Boulder Highway and Desert Inn Road.

Col. Dennis Osborn, the agency’s chief, told reporters Thursday morning that the incident started at a nearby bar, where Gibbon told a man he would give him some methamphetamine in exchange for a ride.

Gibbon got into the back seat of a white Cadillac sedan, which was quickly pulled over for not having a registration sticker on the back license plate. Then Gibbon got out of the car and ran off while Peckham was checking everyone’s records in his patrol car. Peckham gave chase.

Footage from Peckham’s dashboard camera shows Gibbon getting out of the car with a backpack, clutching a gun in his right hand. The gunfire itself was not captured by the dashcam.

Osborn called the next 19 seconds the most stressful moment of Peckham’s career.

Gibbon fired two shots at the trooper, striking the sterling silver badge on Peckham’s chest. Peckham took position and returned fire from about 27 yards away.

He fired six shots, ran to a new position about 40 yards away from Gibbon, and fired five more.

Gibbon was hit twice — in the left arm and the left side of his forehead. He died at the scene.

Peckham, a three-year veteran of the agency, is on paid administrative leave.

Osborn said he was impressed with the way his trooper performed in such a stressful situation and grateful he was not badly injured.

“I think he definitely had his guardian angel with him that night,” Osborn said.

The other people in the car were released after being interviewed. The shooting was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s force investigation team and will be reviewed by the Clark County district attorney’s office.

Officers found methamphetamine in Gibbon’s backpack. The man had a criminal history dating to 1994, including felony convictions in multiple states, Osborn said.

Metro is still investigating where Gibbon got the gun.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find @WesJuhl on Twitter.