SHOOTING
on scene but did not need treatment, spokeswoman Chelsea Stuenkel said.
“As far as ballistics go, that’s all under investigation,” she said. “A round did strike his badge. I can’t say if that’s what stopped it. But I do know there’s damage to his badge.”
The shootout happened about midnight Friday, after the trooper pulled over a white Cadillac for an unspecified traffic infraction on the southbound side of Boulder Highway, just south of U.S. 95. Two men and one woman were inside the car.
Stuenkel said the trooper spoke with the people inside after stopping the vehicle and was headed back to his car when the man sitting in the back of the Cadillac got out of the car and ran into a parking lot just north of Boulder Highway.
“The trooper engaged in a foot pursuit with the suspect,” Stuenkel said. “The suspect engaged the trooper with gunfire. The trooper returned gunfire. The trooper is OK … he is uninjured. The suspect was declared deceased on the scene.”
During the chase and shootout, the two people still inside the Cadillac remained in the vehicle and were later detained, Stuenkel said. As of Friday afternoon, they had not been arrested, but Stuenkel added that “as far as any pending charges, that’s under investigation.”
The last time an NHP trooper was involved in a shooting was 2014, when a trooper fatally shot a man carrying a rifle while walking along Interstate 15 near the Strip.
In 2010, a 21-year-old Henderson man died after a physical altercation with troopers on U.S. 95; he had been shot with a Taser after acting “irate,” then stopped breathing. He was later pronounced dead at Sunrise Hosptial and Medical Center.
“We’re fortunate that in the past, our agency has not had (officer-involved shootings) regularly,” Stuenkel said.
Stuenkel also spoke about how members of highway patrol react after troopers are shot.
“Always, when we hear about these incidents, it’s very scary in this line of work,” Stuenkel said. “We hear about it all the time throughout the country. But when it’s one of our own like this it’s shocking.
“But we come together as a family and we’re just so thankful that the trooper is OK.”
The northbound and southbound lanes of Boulder Highway between U.S. 95 and Desert Inn Road/Lamb Boulevard were closed after the shooting Friday, but reopened again about 9:30 a.m.
The coroner’s office will name the suspect killed once family has been notified, and the Metropolitan Police Department will be investigating the officer-involved shooting aspect of the incident. Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter. Contact Marian Green at mgreen@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0287. Follow @mgreen0708 on Twitter.