Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Knife-wielding man fatally shot by Metro in Jean
A Metro officer shot and killed a knife-wielding nude man who was acting erratically Saturday at a Jean hotel-casino, police said.
The shooting occurred Saturday morning in the southeast parking lot of the Gold Strike Hotel and Gambling Hall, located about 30 miles south of Las Vegas, according to Metropolitan Police Department Capt. John McGrath.
The officer responded to the hotel-casino after Metro dispatch received numerous reports of a nude adult male in the Gold Strike’s pool area at about 9:38 a.m., according to a Metro release.
The officer first gave verbal commands to the man, who did not comply, the release said.
The officer then fired four beanbag rounds at the man using a “low lethal” shotgun, McGrath said. The man then charged toward the officer, causing him to fire his handgun twice, striking the man, McGrath said.
Clark County Fire Department personnel, who were training in the parking lot, immediately rendered medical aid to the man, but he died at the scene, the release said.
The man, who was wearing nothing but socks, had been acting erratically and had chased security guards into the parking lot and around the Gold Strike building before the lone officer arrived, McGrath said.
McGrath said he did not know what type of knife the man was wielding and that it was too early to tell whether drugs were involved. McGrath also said he did not know if the man was a guest at the hotel or how he got there. “The scene is still fluid,” he said. A portion of the Gold Strike parking lot was closed off Saturday while Metro investigated the shooting, but the hotel-casino remained open.
The incident marks Metro’s second officer-involved shooting in 2017.
As per Metro policy, the officer’s identity will be released after 48 hours.
The shooting is under investigation.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Metro’s force investigation section at 702-828-8452, or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.