Accident turned deadly, family says

"It was just an accident," Laurie McMillan cries, her voice rising closer toward hysterics with each word.

"Just a freak accident. Everything happened so quick. He would never just hurt someone! He wasn't an animal, he was a good person! A good, strong person."

Her stomach turns when she thinks about Sammie Lee Clay, 56, her partner of 13 years, sitting alone in their house after the initial wave of madness on Friday night. Where had his mind been?

"A policeman and a child were shot after a domestic disturbance," the TV news reports screamed. "The gunman has barricaded himself in the house."

McMillan wonders how much Clay knew. Did he think he had killed his partner's 8-year-old granddaughter, his unabashed favorite, the child relatives said had stolen his heart?

Did he think he had killed a police officer? The reports said the officer and girl had both been shot in the head, implying serious injuries. Had Clay, who kept a TV in the bedroom, heard those reports?

What if McMillan hadn't forgotten her phone in her rush to the hospital? What if she had been able to reach Clay before the police arrived? What if she had been able to tell him, don't worry, his "little baby" would be OK?

What if?

CHILD'S FACE GRAZED BY BULLET

McMillan was cooking in the kitchen of her family's central valley home about 10 p.m. when she heard the gunshot.

Little 8-year-old Jhalisa, who had been watching television in the living room, screamed out in pain. McMillan saw the blood pouring from the girl's face.

Panic set in.

Clay, who McMillan said had been in the bedroom cleaning or moving his handgun -- she doesn't know exactly what he was doing -- stood completely frozen as the rest of his family raced into action.

"He just went blank," she recalled. "He loves that baby. I don't think he could believe it."

McMillan and her daughter, Jhalisa's mother, scooped up the girl and ran for the car. Their next stop was University Medical Center.

The bullet from Clay's gun had gone through the bedroom wall, tore through the living room couch and only grazed Jhalisa's cheek.

The wound was painful, but luckily not serious. Jhalisa received stitches and was released.

Clay stayed home -- alone -- and never knew how severely the girl was injured.

"Sammie never knew it was just a scrape on the cheek," said cousin Mike Jacobs, also Clay's landlord.

When McMillan returned to check on Clay, Las Vegas police cars already had swarmed the small single-story house at 1213 Wyatt Ave., near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Owens Avenue.

The officers told McMillan that Clay had shot an officer.

POLICE SAY THEY NOTICED BLOOD

Neither McMillan nor Clay's cousin, Jacobs, can be sure what transpired at the home.

They were not present during the shooting, but both believe McMillan would have never maliciously attacked officers.

"If a man they didn't know came into his house, I don't know, if someone came in my house and I don't know who it is, I'm going to defend myself," Jacobs said.

"They had to push their way in or push themselves on him," McMillan said.

According to a Las Vegas police statement, the five patrol officers directed to the home after the girl arrived at the hospital -- Brian Jackson, 39; Larry Miles, 30; Jacob Legrow, 21; Brian Walter, 39; and Roberto Medina, 43 -- noticed blood outside the house and entered. Police did not say whether the officers forced entry, but McMillan said the door had been kicked in.

The officers were met immediately by gunfire, the police statement said.

Jackson was grazed in the head by a bullet and did not return fire, but the four other officers did. Jackson will be OK, police said.

Family members do not know whether Clay was suicidal after Jhalisa's shooting, afraid of being arrested, or just plain angry at the cops, but said they thought the girl had been weighing on his mind.

SWAT officers arrived and started a three-hour standoff with Clay.

FAMILY COULDN'T SPEAK WITH CLAY

McMillan and Jacobs said they asked police for permission to speak with Clay and coax him from the home, but never got a chance.

Jacobs was told by an officer to go as "far away" as possible.

McMillan said officers accused her of being uncooperative and lying about Clay's police record and arrested her on warrants for littering and illegal name change. Police on Monday said they had no further comment beyond their statement.

Clark County court records showed Clay had been convicted of battery on a police officer, a gross misdemeanor, in 2000.

McMillan said Clay had his run-ins with the law, but that was in the past.

He worked as a construction worker, had steady employment and kept long hours to provide for their family, she said.

"Look at the time between the charge," McMillan said. "The man was a good man. He was a law-abiding citizen."

Jacobs said a police friend told him that SWAT sent a robot into the house and that Clay may have fired his weapon at the robot.

Officers entered after hearing a single gunshot shortly after 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, Jacobs said.

The coroner's office determined that Clay died from a single gunshot to the chest. It was a suicide.

PARTNER HAD BEEN ARRESTED

McMillan was released from jail shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday, unaware how the standoff between Clay and police was resolved.

She had been watchful during the 12-hour stint in jail, believing her partner would soon join her in jail.

That's what she hoped, anyway. They could handle jail. But she couldn't handle the unthinkable, she said.

Her family didn't immediately tell her what happened, but instead took her to a relative's house to see Jhalisa.

Upon seeing her grandmother, Jhalisa remarked, 'Gran, who shot papa?' McMillan said.

"That's when I knew he was gone."

McMillan, who still speaks about Clay in the present tense, said she's angry with police for claiming the incident stemmed from a domestic disturbance and for not letting her speak to him during the standoff.

There was no fight and there was no disturbance, she said. It was simply an accident, she repeats, one that spiraled out of control.

She also blamed the media for sensationalizing their early reports without adding context. If Clay had been watching their first stories during the standoff, he would have surely thought his granddaughter was dead, she said.

"If he was watching the news, he would have probably lost his mind," she said.

Jhalisa, who is recovering nicely, doesn't yet understand what happened to her 'papa' and often wonders aloud when he'll be home.

"I said, 'He's in heaven, baby,' and she says, 'Well, he'll be back, Gran. Papa's got to eat.' "