Car theft suspect shot in buttocks leads police on chase

A man faces two counts of armed robbery and evading arrest after Las Vegas police said he stole a vehicle and was shot at a pharmacy Tuesday while trying to obtain drugs illegally.

The suspect, who was not identified, led police on a chase that ended in Henderson after he crashed a stolen SUV.

Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Jacinto Rivera said that at
1:18 p.m., a GMC sport utility vehicle was reported stolen from a casino parking lot near Boulder Highway and Harmon Avenue. About 2 p.m., Rivera said, the suspect crashed the vehicle at the entrance of a shopping complex on Lake Mead Drive and Basic Road.

Between those incidents, police said, the suspect went to a pharmacy on the 4100 block of South Eastern Avenue, approached the pharmacy desk and handed a pharmacist a handwritten note demanding the painkiller oxycodone.

A pharmacist, who was armed, noticed the man had a gun. The suspect and the pharmacist struggled, and both men ended up with their weapons aimed at each other, Rivera said.

The suspect was shot in the buttocks in the struggle, Rivera said. It was unclear whether the pharmacist shot the suspect or the suspect shot himself, he said.

Rivera said police are looking into whether the pharmacist was carrying the gun legally.

After the shooting, police said, the suspect fled in the stolen vehicle. He drove south on U.S. Highway 95, took the Las Vegas Beltway and exited on East Lake Mead.

Rivera did not know when police began the pursuit, but he said it initially began with two patrol cars. A third car joined later. Rivera said the chase followed department policy because it was on the highway and involved a violent suspect.

He said the suspect was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon with nonlife-threatening injuries.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.