Names released in Friday’s officer-involved shooting
July 13, 2015 - 6:29 am
Las Vegas police have identified the two officers involved in Friday‘s shooting in the central valley that wounded an officer and left a man dead.
Metro officers Brian Kroening, 32, and Evan Hogue, 28, were involved in the shooting that left a 54-year-old James Michael Todora dead. Hogue was wounded, and Kroening fired the fatal shots.
The Clark County coroner‘s office said Todora died of gunshot wounds of the torso.
Kroening, who has been with Metro since Nov. 2006, has been placed on routine paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a review of the shooting.
Hogue has been with Metro since September 2014. He is currently in the Field Training and Evaluation Program, police said. Hogue was taken to University Medical Center with a minor gunshot wound.
Both are patrol officers for the Bolden Area Command.
Police said an officer whose name has not been released tried to pull over a gold-colored SUV driven by Todora about 9:45 a.m. near the intersection of Sahara Avenue and Lindell Road, but Todora didn‘t immediately stop.
When he did stop, he got out of the vehicle and started to yell at the officer, telling the officer to shoot and kill him, police said.
Todora was told to get back into the SUV by the officer. Once inside, the man reportedly started to talk about his "prior cases" and make suicidal threats before pulling a handgun from the glove compartment.
Police said Todora and the officer were fighting over the gun when Todora shot a single round that grazed the neck of Hogue, who was approaching for backup.
Kroening, who also responded to the call for backup, then shot Todora several times through the passenger-side window.
Todora died at the scene.
Hogue was taken to the hospital by an officer in a squad car. He was released that afternoon.
This was Metro‘s fourth officer-involved shooting of 2015.
Contact Cassandra Taloma at ctaloma@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @CassandraTaloma.