Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
HPD involved in third shooting
Strip mall scene of latest in recent string
Henderson police shot a man armed with a knife Saturday morning at a strip mall in the third police shooting in the city since Tuesday.
A 37-year-old man was shot by police and hospitalized in critical condition, Henderson Police Chief Thedrick Andres told reporters during a briefing Saturday morning at the Green Valley Plaza shopping center.
At the scene, police caution tape cordoned off a portion of the shopping center in front of the Trader Joe’s grocery store.
Officers were called about
8:05 a.m. to a business in the shopping center in the 2700 block of North Green Valley Parkway, near Sunset Road, after reports of a man with a knife outside the business.
The department’s release did not specify the business.
Multiple callers told police a man outside the business said, “I’m going to stab someone. Call the police,” according to a news release sent Saturday afternoon.
Officers found the man, later identified as John Watson, with a knife outside the business, police said. Watson “advanced on officers,” and an officer shot him.
Andres said he didn’t know how many shots were fired. No officers were injured during the shooting.
The officer who shot Watson was placed on routine paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation, police said. The officer’s name will be released within 48 hours of the shooting.
Andres said he was proud of the officers’ fast response time, which he said helped keep the public safe.
In response to a reporter’s question about the number of officer-involved shootings this week, he said, “I think one of the most important things is this is unusual for our community.”
There’s no information at this time to call it a trend, Andres said.
Watson faces “at least one” count of assault with a deadly weapon on a protected person, police said Saturday afternoon. The department said further details would not be released “at this time” because of the open investigation.
It was the third police shooting in Henderson since Tuesday and the eighth police shooting this year, according to records maintained by the Review-Journal. At this time last year, officers had been involved in three shootings, which were the only Henderson police shootings in 2018.
Thursday shooting
On Thursday night, a 42-yearold man was shot at a home in the 300 block of Cannes Street, across the street from Brown Junior High School.
The shooting happened after officers stopped a man and a woman on a motorcycle, which had been stolen in Boulder City, police said. The two directed officers to the Cannes Street home, where they said the motorcycle owner was.
When officers approached the owner, later identified as 42-year-old Daniel Thornburg, he shot at them, and officers returned fire, police said Thursday night.
Thornburg remained in the hospital Friday in critical but stable condition, the department said.
His condition Saturday was unclear.
On Saturday, Henderson police identified four officers and a sergeant as involved in that shooting.
They are Sgt. Kevin Abernathy and officers Chad Burgess, Chad Casey, Jesse Hehn and Daniel Medrano. It was not immediately clear whether all the officers fired their weapons during the shooting.
Abernathy has been employed with the department since August 2003; Burgess since September 2007; Medrano since June 2008; and Casey and Hehn since July 2014, police said Saturday. All of them are assigned to the department’s field operations bureau.
All the officers were placed on paid administrative leave while the department investigates.
Thornburg faces charges of attempted murder of a protected person, possession of a stolen firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Shooting outside sports bar
Early Tuesday morning, Henderson officer Andrew Avanessian shot 40-year-old Israel Valle-Lopez at the Bourbon Street Sports Bar at North Major Avenue and Boulder Highway.
Police approached Valle-Lopez in the parking lot, and he pulled out a knife after officers pushed him to the ground, police said. During an arrest attempt, Valle-Lopez tried to stab one of them, and Avanessian shot him.
Valle-Lopez was transported to a hospital and was in stable condition. No officers were injured.