Detective kills suspect

A Las Vegas police detective on Wednesday shot and killed a man in a residential neighborhood who was suspected of sexually assaulting a child.

The man was being interviewed by detectives in the sexual assault unit at his place of employment in an area near Alexander Road and Rancho Drive, Capt. Randy Montandon said.

When the detectives announced he was going to be arrested, the man fled at about 1 p.m. One of the detectives fired a Taser at the suspect, which didn't stop him.

Another detective pursued the suspect for a half-mile to a desert lot in front of a vacant house on the corner of Alexander and Helen Avenue, Montandon said.

A physical altercation between the detective and the suspect took place, and the officer shot him. The suspect, whose name was not released, was dead at the scene.

"He was a suspect in separate instances with multiple victims, one in a domestic violence-type situation and the other a sex-with-a-child-under-14 situation," Montandon said.

The detectives were in plain clothes when they interviewed the suspect at his work, Montandon said, but the suspect knew that they were police.

Montandon would not identify the place where the suspect worked, but police records show the detectives asked for backup at the El Jen Convalescent Hospital and Retirement Center at 5538 Duncan Drive, near the area of the shooting. Unmarked police cars were in the parking lot of the hospital Wednesday night.

A nurse at the center said she didn't know anything about the incident and couldn't reach any hospital officials Wednesday night.

Montandon said police were still investigating whether the suspect was armed.

The detectives were not injured.

"The officers are good considering they went in a protracted foot pursuit in 100-degree-plus weather against a violent suspect," Montandon said.

The incident was the department's 10th officer-involved shooting this year.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.