Metro officer named a ‘Top Cop’ in National Police Week ceremony

Two Metropolitan Police Department officers were honored Friday in Washington D.C. as part of National Police week.

Officer Tierney Tomburo was named a “Top Cop” for an incident in which she was shot and critically wounded but managed to return fire and kill an armed man who was running from a car stop last September.

TOP COPS!

LVMPD is proud to announce @LVMPDSCAC Officer Tierney Tomburo was honored at the 30th annual @NAPOpolice awards in Washington D.C. last night as a "Top Cop!"
Ofc. Tomburo was shot and critically wounded after chasing an armed suspect in September 2022. pic.twitter.com/GbEqEo3OWC

— LVMPD (@LVMPD) May 14, 2023

“Ofc. Tomburo was shot and critically wounded after chasing an armed suspect on September 2022,” Metro stated in a Tweet Saturday.

Tomburo, 24, had pulled over a Buick — the driver was arrested on a charge of DUI, police said — about 1:15 a.m. Sept. 10 in the 3900 block of University Center Drive near UNLV.

As she was corralling the car’s occupants to do pat-downs, one of the occupants, a man identified as Gabriel Herrera Charles, 27, suddenly started running, Tomuro’s body-worn camera video showed.

“Hey!” Tomburo yells at Charles as she chases him. She then screams, “No!” as Charles turns around to aim his handgun at her, firing it and hitting her in the pelvis, Metro Assistant Sheriff John McGrath said during a news conference outlining details of the shooting.

Officer Derek Berger was named an honorable mention winner in the “Top Cop” category.

Each year, hundreds of names of officers killed in the line of duty are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington. These names of 556 officers were read aloud Saturday on the National Mall during the annual Candlelight Vigil to memorialize those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.