Police account is disputed

An eyewitness account appears to contradict police statements about the Wednesday officer-involved shooting that left a sexual assault suspect dead.

The witness said she didn't see the "physical altercation" between two detectives and the suspect that was described by Las Vegas police.

"What we saw was there was no Taser. There was no fight," said the woman, who lives down the street from the scene of the shooting, in a residential neighborhood near Alexander Road and Rancho Drive.

"He was running. He was just (expletive) running," she said, adding that the suspect's back was facing detectives.

The woman spoke to the Review-Journal on condition that her name not be used, saying she doesn't want to "get in the middle of that." She said she hasn't spoken to police because police told her to go home when she approached them at the scene at two different times. Her husband, who was also a witness, was too ill to be interviewed Thursday.

In a brief Wednesday news conference and in a news release issued Thursday, police produced few details about the shooting.

Police said that two detectives with the department's sexual assault unit were investigating a sexual assault case involving a child under 14 years of age.

They were interviewing a "person of interest" at his work, at the El Jen Convalescent Hospital and Retirement Center at 5538 Duncan Drive, less than a quarter-mile down the street from where the shooting took place.

After interviewing the man, the detectives determined he was a suspect and placed him under arrest. During the arrest, the man fled. Detectives chased him on foot.

At some point a detective deployed a Taser, which police said wasn't effective in stopping the man. The chase lasted about a half-mile and ended in front of a vacant home on the northeast corner of Alexander Road and Helen Avenue.

That's where police said one of the detectives and the suspect became involved in a "physical altercation." During the altercation, police said the detective fired his handgun twice, killing the suspect.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not released as of Thursday.

The witness said she was driving north on Helen, approaching Alexander with her husband, who was in the passenger's seat of their pickup. They were stopped at the stop sign when they saw the detectives, a man and a woman, chasing the suspect in front of the vacant house.

The suspect had very short hair and a tan complexion. The detectives were in plainclothes and she didn't know they were police.

"It looked like a married couple was chasing him," the woman said. "I was thinking, 'What the hell did he do to piss them off?' "

She saw the detectives lunge at the suspect. It appeared the male detective might have grabbed the suspect or touched him, she said, because the suspect stumbled forward but kept running.

The female detective fell to the ground and began gasping for air. She saw the male detective stumble, raise a firearm and shoot the suspect. She estimated the suspect was about seven or eight feet away from the detective. The suspect was about to round the southwest corner of the house and head north on Helen, she said.

She heard one shot, although police reported two shots were fired. The suspect fell to the ground, flailed around for a few moments, and lay still.

Her husband rolled down the truck's passenger-side window and said, "What the (expletive) is going on here?" she said.

The male detective pulled his badge and said they were with the police and that the couple needed to leave, the woman said.

She and her husband went home, parked their truck and walked back to the scene before other officers arrived. When they returned to the scene, "They told us, 'You need to leave,' " she said.

The couple left without giving a statement to police. She said the detectives knew they were witnesses to the shooting.

The department on Thursday would not release additional details about the suspect or the event. The names of the detectives will be released 48 hours after the shooting, per department policy. They have been placed on routine paid administrative leave, also per department policy.

"As with all officer-involved shootings resulting in death, there will be an inquest convened and the details of this officer-involved shooting will come out in this process," Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. John Loretto said.

He said he couldn't comment on the witness's account but encouraged her and her husband to come forward to give their accounts to police.

"I certainly couldn't speculate, but the agency definitely needs to speak to them," Loretto said.

The woman said she isn't going to seek the police out again but will talk to them if they come to her.

According to state law, a police officer can, after giving a warning, use deadly force to prevent an escape if there is probable cause to believe that the person "has committed a felony which involves the infliction or threat of serious bodily harm or the use of deadly force" or "poses a threat of serious bodily harm to the officer or to others."

That justification was used in 2006 when police shot handcuffed 17-year-old Swuave Lopez, a suspect in a murder case, as the teen was running away.

Loretto would not speculate on whether that was the justification for Wednesday's shooting. Capt. Randy Montandon said Wednesday that the suspect was wanted in "separate instances with multiple victims, one in a domestic violence-type situation and the other a sex with a child under 14 situation."

Details of those cases have not been released.

Other witnesses were at the scene and have spoken to police, Montandon and Loretto said. The witness said she saw one other person at the scene, stopped at the intersection in a small car.

She said she has little sympathy for the suspect.

"He's a child molester. He deserves what he got."

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