NLV police shooting
KSNV coverage of North Las Vegas police shooting, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011.
Sgt. Tim Bedwell
Officer-involved fatal shooting
A North Las Vegas Police officer shot and killed a man while investigating celebratory gunfire in the area of Glendale Avenue and White Street on Saturday shortly after midnight, authorities said.
Two special operations officers who are part of North Las Vegas’ SWAT unit were participating in an intensified patrol looking for people shooting guns into the air to celebrate the new year, police Sgt. Tim Bedwell said during a Saturday afternoon news conference.
The officers noticed gunfire coming from the front yard of a house in the 600 block of East Glendale Avenue at 12:09 a.m., Bedwell said.
They saw a large group of people in the front yard and saw numerous guns, including at least one high-powered rifle, Bedwell said.
“The officers felt that the danger to the community was such that they had to intervene immediately and they challenged the persons to drop the firearms and they approached them,” he said.
The officers, who were in uniform, identified themselves before giving orders, Bedwell said.
The scene became chaotic, and one of the men pointed a handgun at one of the officers at arms-length, Bedwell said.
“The officer, in his own defense, brushed that firearm away and tried to control it,” Bedwell said.
During the struggle, the officer felt he was going to be shot and fired multiple times at the man, who ran a short distance before falling to the ground, Bedwell said.
No one else at the scene was injured in the incident, including the officer, officials said.
After the shooting, officers conducted a search of the yard and house and found a .357 magnum revolver, a 9mm pistol, a 30-30 rifle and a 380 pistol. Inside the home, two other weapons suspected of being used were recovered: a .38-caliber revolver and a .22-caliber revolver. Numerous boxes of ammunition and numerous spent shell casings were recovered.
Police identified eight people at the scene, but Bedwell said some might have fled before officers arrived.
Of those eight people, Bedwell said five were shooting guns; one of the five was killed and the other four were arrested and booked on suspicion of discharging a firearm where persons could be injured, a gross misdemeanor. Police identified the men as Heriberto Diaz, 31; Adam Sauceda, 23; Jose Rodriguez, 35; and Francisco Aguirre, 21.
Officers also received reports of a vehicle being hit by a bullet at about the same time on Orr Avenue, a block away from the shooting, but they aren’t sure whether the bullet came from the same house, Bedwell said.
North Las Vegas officials have been campaigning against celebratory gunfire on New Year’s for many years, Bedwell said. Every New Year’s Day, officers in North Las Vegas make arrests and confiscate firearms under similar circumstances, he said.
Last year, a teen was injured while watching fireworks on New Year’s Day in North Las Vegas when a bullet fell from above and hit the boy’s leg, Bedwell said.
“It is a very dangerous activity and … because of the volume of it that we have in the neighborhoods on the east side of North Las Vegas, we target that area for specialized enforcement to try to curb this behavior,” Bedwell said.
Bedwell said approaching homes where there is gunfire is dangerous for officers.
“The police officers did not know who was being shot at; they did not know if this was a murder taking place,” he said. “A bunch of people in the front yard of a home at midnight firing, you could assume is potentially celebratory gunfire, but you don’t know that, and our officers have to intervene in a situation like this, and that’s what they did.”
In such a situation, the officers would try to safely approach the house to see what is going on before identifying themselves, Bedwell said.
“We would absolutely never let somebody drive up in front of a house full of gunfire in a police car and turn on their lights and sirens,” he said. “That’s a death warrant for a police officer.”
The officer involved in the shooting is a 13-year veteran of the department. He has been placed on paid administrative leave and his name will be released after 48 hours, in accordance with Nevada law, police said.
The coroner will release the deceased man’s name and cause of death.
The last fatal officer-involved shooting in North Las Vegas was on Jan. 23, 2009.
“They’re rare here because we have very well trained, disciplined officers, not because we don’t have a difficult place to police,” Bedwell said.
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