Las Vegas police block off a section of northbound Las Vegas Boulevard at Flamingo Road after a bicycle officer fatally shot the 31-year-old driver of this Chevrolet Camaro near Barbary Coast on Tuesday night. Photos by Ronda Churchill Chris, right, a tourist from Malaysia, talks about witnessing Tuesday night's fatal shooting on the Strip. He said he and his wife were riding The Deuce double-decker bus nearby when Las Vegas police shot a motorist near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road about 10:40 p.m. Traffic was stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard at Flamingo Road after an officer-involved shooting Tuesday night.

Under the bright lights of the Strip, crowds of Fourth of July revelers watched what several said they thought was the filming of the latest television episode of CSI.

But the gunshot fired by a Las Vegas police officer was real, and so was the blood on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Tarance Deshon Hall, 31, of Las Vegas was pronounced dead at a hospital about 30 minutes after he was shot by an officer under the blinking orange and yellow lights of the Barbary Coast hotel and casino.

Police said Hall had a criminal record, but they did not immediately provide details. According to California records, Hall had been arrested on several drug-related charges.

About 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, two Las Vegas officers on bicycles confronted Hall after he stopped the customized Chevrolet Camaro he was driving in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road, blocking traffic and blasting music, police said.

"He became belligerent and hostile" when the officers approached the car, said Capt. James Dillon, head of the Metropolitan Police Department's robbery/homicide unit, which investigates shootings involving the department's officers.

One of the bicycle officers pulled up alongside the car, and when Hall drove away, the officer went with the Camaro about 30 feet until Hall crashed it into a sign at the northeast corner of the intersection, in front of Barbary Coast, 3595 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

The officer fell head first into the car, and the air bag deployed, knocking the officer unconscious, Dillon said.

Hall put the vehicle in reverse, and the other bicycle officer fired once, striking him.

A tourist with a video camera captured footage of an officer pulling Hall's limp body from the Camaro and flipping him onto the ground, where he was then handcuffed.

Dillon said the officer who pulled Hall out of the car was the same officer who had been knocked unconscious by the air bag.

Dillon said it is standard procedure by officers to handcuff suspects even after they are shot. "We handcuff them because we have seen on many occasions where suspects have faked an injury or are injured but are still capable or highly motivated to re-engage officers," he said.

A tourist who witnessed the shooting, a man from Malaysia who identified himself only as Chris, said, "I never believed I would come to Las Vegas and see this. I was nervous. I've never seen a shooting."

He described a scene similar to what police said happened. He said the Camaro was blocking the intersection for at least 30 seconds before the officers approached the vehicle. After police confronted the driver, the car sped off with the upper body of one officer in the car, his legs flailing out the window, the tourist said.

"If the car had hit on the driver's side, he (the officer) would have been seriously injured," he said.

Like many others on the Strip, Chris said he thought he was watching a CSI episode being filmed.

As midnight passed, inebriated tourists strolled past the investigation scene, hooting and hollering from the sidewalks and pedestrian overpasses while being shooed along by police and casino security guards.

James Morris, who said he was 45 and homeless, was not surprised by the shooting.

"They're doing that all around here recently," he said between sips of an alcoholic beverage held in a Denny's plastic cup. Morris slurred advice to the tourists passing by: If confronted by police, "you better cooperate."

Hall was the 18th person shot by Las Vegas police this year, and the eighth to die after being shot, Dillon said.

Last year, 11 people were shot by Las Vegas police, according to the department's Web site.

"When officers are confronted by suspects with deadly force, we will respond with deadly force to stop the threat and incapacitate the suspect or suspects," Dillon said.

He said the preliminary investigation indicates the shooting appeared to be justified.

A coroner's inquest into the shooting will be held to determine whether the shooting was justified, excusable or criminal. The date for the inquest has not been set.

So far this year, all of the coroner's inquests into fatal shootings by police have resulted in the same verdict: justified.

The name of the officer who fired Tuesday's fatal shot will not be released until 48 hours after the shooting, per department policy. The officer who was injured was taken to University Medical Center, where he was treated and released. His name also was not released.