Las Vegas police release details about fatal officer-involved shooting

The Metropolitan Police Department released new details about a fatal police shooting that occurred in the west valley Sunday morning.

Metro Assistant Sheriff Tom Roberts briefed reporters on the incident Wednesday afternoon and played dramatic footage from multiple body cameras worn by officers at the scene.

The department on Tuesday named SWAT officers Cody Thompson, 33, and Theodore Carrasco, 36, as those who shot the suspect, George Marcus Tillman.

Metro was called about 9:40 p.m. Saturday by a neighbor who said a woman came to his house on the 6500 block of Assembly Drive, near Torrey Pines Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard, asking for help. In a follow-up call, police learned she was suffering from a gunshot wound in her arm.

Tillman, the woman’s boyfriend, locked himself inside his residence with multiple guns and the couple’s 3-year-old child, which prompted a response from the SWAT team, police said.

Roberts said the woman, who was being treated at University Medical Center, told police the man might kill their daughter, so the department opted to send the SWAT team into the home about 12:05 a.m.

Footage played at the briefing showed a chaotic scene. As the officers entered the home, Tillman shot at them, firing rounds as they entered the hallway and then the room in which he was sitting next to his daughter in bed.

A chorus of shouts and gunfire erupted, but a clear direction can be heard over the noise: “Get the baby!”

An officer, who was not identified at the briefing, scooped the girl up and ran outside.

“Are you OK, sweetie?” he asked outside.

“Yeah,” the girl responded as several officers surrounded her to check for wounds. She was treated for “bumps and scrapes” at University Medical Center and quickly released, Roberts said.

Thompson and Carrasco each fired three rounds at Tillman during the exchange. He died at the medical center.

Angelica Morales, 15, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal she lives in the house where the shooting occurred. Her mother was the woman shot before police arrived. The woman has not been identified, and her face was blurred in the footage played by the department.

The teenager said she avoided Tillman, but he was gentle with the children who lived in the house. Once every month or two, the couple would have big fights, and Tillman would not be seen for weeks.

Morales said her mother would at times tell her to lock herself in her room when Tillman had outbursts.

“I kind of saw it coming,” Morales said of Sunday’s incident. Tillman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was taking medication, Morales said.

Roberts said the couple had a history of domestic violence, and the man previously had been placed on a mental health hold at a hospital. His criminal history includes charges of domestic violence and kidnapping, as well as a number of arrests in California.

He was not prohibited from owning firearms, because he had not been convicted of any felonies, Roberts said.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Blake Apgar contributed to this story.