Las Vegas police officer’s body camera inactive during shooting

The Las Vegas police officer who shot at a man last week did not have his body camera activated during the shooting, an official said Monday.

“At this time, we are still investigating that,” Assistant Sheriff Charles Hank said at a news conference. “We don’t know if it was a malfunction, or he failed to activate the camera.”

Metropolitan Police Department officer Brent Horlacher, 28, fired one round from his handgun at 35-year-old Jessie Murillo during a foot pursuit early Friday, police said. The shot missed and hit a block wall.

Police said Murillo pointed a gun at Horlacher, but investigators have not found the firearm.

“Given the fact that the officer said he saw a handgun and then fired his firearm, it’s our belief that he did, in fact, have a handgun,” Hank said.

Horlacher tried to pull Murillo over near Boulder Highway and Desert Inn Road because the Dodge Durango that Murillo was driving had plates that belonged to another vehicle. Murillo refused to pull over, drove north on Lamb Boulevard, crossed into the southbound lanes and nearly crashed into other vehicles, police said.

The officer fired one round shortly after 12:35 a.m. Friday, after the vehicle chase turned into a foot pursuit near Lamb and St. Louis Avenue. Murillo was found uninjured about three blocks from the scene of the shooting about two hours later. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

He faces charges of disobeying an officer resulting in death or bodily harm and assault of a protected person with a deadly weapon. He also faces a stolen vehicle charge in a separate case, jail records show.

Horlacher is on paid leave while the shooting is investigated.

This is the ninth police shooting this year for the Metro and the fifth nonfatal shooting. At this time last year, five of the department’s 10 police shootings were fatal.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Rio Lacanlale contributed to this report.