Metro IDs cop who shot man in burglary investigation

By CASSANDRA TALOMA LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

10 years ago

Booking photo for Richard Powell. Courtesy (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

Las Vegas police investigate an officer-involved shooting on the 6300 block of Blue Jay Way, near Oakey and Jones boulevards in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Police were responding to an in-process burglary, and the wounded suspect was described as male. No officers were harmed. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

A nearby resident watches as Las Vegas police investigate an officer-involved shooting on the 6300 block of Blue Jay Way, near Oakey and Jones boulevards in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Police were responding to an in-process burglary, and the wounded suspect was described as male. No officers were harmed. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Las Vegas police investigate an officer-involved shooting on the 6300 block of Blue Jay Way, near Oakey and Jones boulevards in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 2015. Police were responding to an in-process burglary, and the wounded suspect was described as male. No officers were harmed. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Las Vegas police officer who shot a 18-year-old man Wednesday during a burglary investigation has been identified.

Officer Thomas Moore, 50, was called out to the 6300 block of Bluejay Way, near the intersection of Oakey and Jones boulevards, at 10:29 a.m. to investigate an in-process home burglary, Metro said Friday in a news release.

The K-9 officer confronted Richard Powell at the open front door of the home, police said. Moore and Powell fought before Moore shot at Powell once. Police found a handgun in the home that apparently belonged to Powell.

Powell was taken to University Medical Center and has since been released. He was booked into Clark County Detention Center under the name Richard F. Powell III and faces charges of burglary with a firearm and possession of an unregistered firearm.

No one else was in the house at the time of the shooting. Police found a handgun in the house that they say belonged to the burglar.

Moore has been with the police department since April 1990. He was assigned to Metro’s Emergency Operations Bureau, K-9 Section.

He has been placed on routine paid leave pending the outcome of a review of the shooting.

Contact reporter Cassandra Taloma at ctaloma@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381.