Man killed by marshal was wanted for burglaries in Arizona
The man shot and killed by federal authorities Wednesday afternoon was identified Thursday as a felon from Arizona wanted in a string of burglaries and the beating of an elderly man.
A source said Thomas Lars Domagala, 27, was shot by a U.S. marshal about 3 p.m. on Wednesday after a car chase ended at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue.
North Las Vegas police said the suspect, who has not officially been identified, was armed with a handgun when he was shot by a marshal attempting to prevent his escape. Domagala was being sought by a federal task force that included some local authorities.
The driver of the vehicle was 26-year-old Tabitha Alvarez of Tucson, Ariz. Meggan Lecroy, 22, was a passenger in the vehicle.
Both women were arrested. Officials with the Pima County sheriff’s department in Tucson said Alvarez was an accomplice of Domagala.
In the beating case last week, Domagala was accused of breaking into a home and pistol-whipping a man in his 80s.
The victim in that case had a fractured skull and life-threatening injuries.
North Las Vegas police were handling the shooting investigation.
Wednesday’s shooting was preceded by the hunt for Domagala, who was being chased by a multi-jurisdictional fugitive task force including the U.S. Marshals Service, Las Vegas police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The FBI was involved in a local shooting last month.
A federal agent Aug. 2 killed the suspect in a slaying.
The suspect was shot at the Arizona Charlie’s on Boulder Highway.
The man, identified as Joshua Durchell in court records but who also was called Joshua Burchell by the Clark County coroner’s office and Jerome Burchell by the FBI, was shot while authorities were trying to arrest him for a robbery that occurred May 31, 2011, at a local fast food store.
Durchell also was a suspect in the investigation of a slaying that occurred July 22, police said.
The agent who shot Durchell was working with the multi-agency Criminal Apprehension Team, a group of local and federal officers in Southern Nevada that helps detectives arrest suspects in serious crimes.
The FBI said Durchell, 35, ignored an agent’s repeated commands and brandished a weapon before he was shot and fatally wounded.
Police had considered Durchell a suspect in the July 22 slaying of 38-year-old Esteban Meza Jr.
Meza’s body was discovered July 22 at the Shelter Cove apartment complex at 2683 Decatur Blvd., near Sahara Avenue. A person who went to pick Meza up for church found him dead in his apartment, police said.
The warrant FBI agents were serving on Durchell came from the 2011 robbery of a Las Vegas Quiznos.
Review-Journal reporter Antonio Planas contributed to this report. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.
