Gunman 'Ambushes' Officers, Opens Fire in Las Vegas; Police Capture Suspect Without Firing a Shot
An unidentified man with a semiautomatic handgun on Sunday "ambushed" two officers siting in their patrol car at a traffic light in Las Vegas and fired multiple rounds, shooting an officer in the hand. Officers captured the gunman without firing a single shot, police said.
The shooting occurred when two uniformed officers were on their way in a marked patrol car to a disturbance call and had stopped at a stop light at Nellis Boulevard and Tropicana Boulevard shortly after noon, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release.
The gunman, who had not been identified until Monday morning, came on foot and opened fire on the vehicle. It is not clear if the disturbance call and the shooting were related.
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"This assailant was carrying a semi-automatic handgun and fired multiple rounds at our officers as they were sitting in their vehicle," department spokesperson Sgt. John Sheahan said in a video posted on YouTube. "One of our officers was struck in the hand at that time."
"Both officers immediately exited the vehicle while the uninjured officer chased the suspect on foot. The suspect was captured a short distance later and was taken into custody without further incident," LVMPD said in the statement.
The wounded officer, who was sitting in the passenger seat in the SUV, was transported to University Medical Center Trauma and was said to be in a stable condition. He had not been identified.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill was quoted as saying that officers showed "remarkable restraint" while taking the suspect into custody.
"These officers are going out there and being attacked while they are sitting in a police car, and we didn't fire a single shot back at him," McMahill told KSNV, adding that his department sends out two-officer units "because of the narrative of violence against police across the country."
"We are certainly working on pins and needles," he said. "(That is) part of the reason we doubled them up. So we have two officers available immediately whenever an incident occurs."
He described the suspect only as a Hispanic male, and said his weapon had been recovered.
