Henderson police release details about officer-involved shooting

A Henderson police officer shot an unarmed 15-year-old boy on Tuesday night after the boy was suspected of robbing a 7-Eleven, the department said Wednesday.

An officer chased the boy across the road from the convenience store, 1453 Boulder Highway, and saw an “object” in the boy’s hand, said Henderson Police Department Lt. Kirk Moore during a Wednesday news conference.

Moore on Wednesday declined to identify the 15-year-old, or say what the object in his hand was, only saying it was not a “deadly weapon.”

Police on Tuesday night described the suspect as a male, and clarified Wednesday that he was a teen.

The teen was shot in the arm and is expected to survive. Moore said he has been released from Henderson Hospital and was in custody Wednesday.

An officer in the area about 8:55 p.m. was flagged down by two 7-Eleven employees, who said the store had just been robbed. Dispatchers also received a 911 call at the same time regarding the robbery, Moore said.

The officer then chased the teen and “challenged him to stop and show his hands,” Moore said Wednesday.

“The suspect had an object in his hands that led to the use of deadly force,” he said.

It was unclear how many times the officer fired at the teen. No officers were injured during the shooting.

The teen has been charged with robbery and resisting arrest, Moore said. Moore said Henderson police have “had contact with him in the past.”

The name of the officer who shot the teenager, who has been placed on routine administrative leave, will be released within 48 hours of the shooting.

Moore said the officer was wearing a body camera during the shooting, but the footage was not released Wednesday.

Henderson officers have been investigating a recent series of convenience store robberies across the city, but Moore said Wednesday that detectives did not believe Tuesday night’s robbery was connected to the others.

Tuesday night marked the department’s third police shooting this year, none of which have been fatal, according to records maintained by the Review-Journal.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.