U.S. marshal in fatal fugitive shooting on paid leave

A U.S. marshal involved in a fatal shooting last week is on paid leave, an agency official said Tuesday.

Christopher Hoye, with the U.S. Marshals Service, District of Nevada, said the name of the marshal involved in the shooting will be released after the agency obtains clearance from its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Hoye said the marshal involved has been on paid leave pending an internal investigation since the Thursday shooting.

The marshal fatally shot 27-year-old Thomas Lars Domagala, a felon from Arizona wanted in a string of burglaries and the beating of an elderly man.

Domagala was shot by a U.S. marshal about 3 p.m. after a car chase ended at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue.

North Las Vegas police are investigating the shooting. Sgt. Tim Bedwell said this week that Domagala appeared to be armed before the fatal shooting.

"The initial witness reports indicate that he did have something in his hands that appeared to be a firearm," Bedwell said. "When he went down, he did have a firearm with him. It wasn't in a pocket or anything; it was out."

Domagala was being pursued by a multijurisdictional fugitive task force that included the U.S. Marshals Service, Las Vegas police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Bedwell was unsure when the department's investigation would be completed.

He said Tuesday the case is no different than other cases investigated by his department.

"We're very adept at conducting homicide investigations," Bedwell said. "This is a homicide investigation."

The driver of the vehicle in which Domagala was a passenger was 26-year-old Tabitha Alvarez of Tucson, Ariz. Meggan Lecroy, 22, was also a passenger.

Both women were arrested.

Officials with the Pima County sheriff's department in Tucson said Alvarez was Domagala's accomplice.

In the beating case earlier this month, Domagala was accused of breaking into a home and pistol-whipping a man in his 80s. The victim had a fractured skull and life-threatening injuries.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.