Man fleeing police fatally shot by civilian near Las Vegas airport, police said

A man fleeing police Wednesday afternoon was fatally shot by a civilian whom the man pulled a gun on near Harry Reid International Airport, police said.

At around 1:20 p.m. police responded near University Center Drive and East Hacienda Avenue for a man in his 30s who was spray painting a wall. When police tried to stop him he ran south on University Center and police noticed he was holding a gun, according to Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson.

Police held back after seeing the gun, and the man ran onto Paradise Road, north of Russell Road. Johansson said the man started pointing his gun at a passing vehicle, causing a silver vehicle with two people inside to stop.

The driver of the silver vehicle, a man in his 50s, was armed with a gun and shot the other man.

The man who was shot was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center where he died.

Johansson said the man who fatally shot the other man was not facing charges and was cooperating with police.

“It does appear that they were the victims of a possible carjacking or at least someone pointing a gun at them before that occurred,” Johansson said.

Paradise was shut down at Russell and traffic was being diverted eastbound on Russell. Johansson said the closure would be in place for the next couple of hours.

At around 5 p.m., investigators were photographing the silver vehicle, which remained on scene.

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