Man, woman injured in shootout with police after chase

Published Mon, Jul 24, 2017 (8:45 p.m.)

Updated Tue, Jul 25, 2017 (12:30 a.m.)

A man and a woman were wounded by gunfire in a shootout between the man and Metro Police officers following a “lengthy” car pursuit that ended in North Las Vegas Monday night, according to officials.

The officers shot the man and investigators believe the woman, who was hit in the wrist, was wounded by the male suspect's gunfire, of which multiple rounds were meant for the officers, Metro Capt. Kelly McMahill said in a briefing broadcast online.

The man and woman are expected to recover at University Medical Center, McMahill said. Neither officer was wounded.

The incident unfolded Monday night in Welsch Circle, near Gowan Road and Rainbow Boulevard, where police were conducting a follow-up investigation in a nearby Sunday shooting in which a victim riding a bicycle was shot by a Hispanic man driving a maroon Honda, McMahill said.

Police, a field training officer and a junior officer he was guiding, spotted a Hispanic man in a maroon Honda and tried conducting a traffic stop, but the man kept driving, McMahill said. The woman was in the car.

A chase ensued and a police helicopter was dispatched, McMahill said. The car stopped about 7:15 p.m. in the 4600 block of Goldfield Street, about 10 miles east in North Las Vegas, and the man got out of the car and started running.

At some point, the man shot two to three rounds toward the officers, who returned fire, striking him multiple times, McMahill said.

While the man lay on the ground “bleeding pretty badly,” the officers applied a tourniquet while they waited for medics, McMahill said. Both he and the woman were rushed to UMC.

Investigators found a gun next to the male suspect and another inside the Honda, which was reported stolen, McMahill said.

At least two people who came out of a house on Goldfield as the chase concluded were arrested on unknown counts, McMahill said. Information on their relationship with the male suspect or the woman wasn’t immediately available.

This was the 13th shooting involving Metro officers this year, McMahill said. A detailed briefing is expected in the next 72 hours.

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