East Las Vegas business owner shoots back, injures assailant

A man was injured and arrested after a shootout with an east Las Vegas business owner.

Charleston Patterson, 27, was arrested Thursday and booked on assault and discharging a gun into an occupied structure, according to an arrest report from the Metropolitan Police Department released Tuesday.

Police said Patterson approached the owner of Topaz Market, at 2570 E Tropicana Ave., around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday and started hitting the man in the face. The owner fired two shots in the air, which he told police were not intended to hit anyone.

Video from the area showed Patterson started to run away and hid behind a vehicle before firing about six rounds at the owner. The owner returned fire, striking Patterson in the leg.

Police spoke to the business owner’s wife, who confirmed her husband’s statement about the shooting.

Patterson has charges in Las Vegas Justice Court dating back to 2015, including a battery case which was adjudicated in 2017 and a battery charge from April that was dismissed.

Patterson was charged Tuesday morning with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and six counts of discharging a gun into an occupied structure. He is being held on $20,000 bail.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.