Inquest jury: Police shooting justified

A coroner's inquest jury took an hour Friday to find a Henderson police officer justified in the Jan. 16 killing of a Las Vegas man.

The jury ruling was not unanimous, said Clark County coroner's office spokeswoman Samantha Charles.

A majority of the jurors found officer James Tetzlaff, a 10-year veteran of the Henderson Police Department, had justification for fatally shooting 53-year-old Glenn Jeffrey Spyer during a traffic stop.

Tetzlaff and another officer initially spotted Spyer getting into a Ford Mustang convertible in the desert near Foothills and Equestrian drives about 10:35 a.m.

The officers followed Spyer and ran a check on the Mustang's license plate. They discovered the car had been reported stolen in September in Las Vegas.

The officers pulled Spyers over, and the two vehicles turned into a Walgreens parking lot on Racetrack Road at Boulder Highway.

Police said that's when Spyers got out of the car and walked toward the officers holding a handgun.

Spyers didn't put the gun down after officers ordered him to, and Tetzlaff opened fire, police said.

Spyers was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, de Lima campus, where he died of multiple gunshot wounds.