Police video shows unusual foot pursuit of stabbing suspect before shooting

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Steve Marcus

Metro Police vehicles are shown by an RTC bus during an officer-involved shooting investigation near Spring Mountain Road and Rainbow Boulevard Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Police shot a man who is accused of randomly stabbing two women.

Tue, Aug 28, 2018 (9:35 p.m.)

Man Shot after Stabbing Attacks

Metro Police vehicles are shown by an RTC bus during an officer-involved shooting investigation near Spring Mountain Road and Rainbow Boulevard Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Police shot a man who is accused of randomly stabbing two women. Launch slideshow »

Slowly trotting away from Metro Police officers after allegedly stabbing two random women, the suspect was apparently unfazed by every technique authorities used to try to stop him.

Verbal commands went ignored, prongs from a stun gun only attached to his backpack, and bean bags blasted from a shotgun did not slow him. And when an officer tried grabbing him, he swung him away.

It was only when Caleb Hill, 38, approached two civilians waiting at a bus stop Friday afternoon that three blasts from an officer’s gun finally brought him down.

Hill, a three-time convicted felon with a lengthy rap sheet, was critically wounded but has been stabilized at University Medical Center, Clark County Assistant Sheriff Tim Kelly said. The women also were treated and released from UMC.

The chase and subsequent shooting near Rainbow Boulevard and Spring Mountain Road was captured on a police body-worn camera, which footage Kelly publicly broadcast Monday.

Officers responded at 12:48 p.m. to a stabbing inside a Regional Transportation Commission bus, Kelly said. Hill had approached a woman, and without provocation, stabbed her in the neck.

She stepped off the bus, but so did Hill, who grabbed another random woman on the street, put her in a chokehold and began to stab her, Kelly said. That’s when officers arrived, and Hill let the woman go before he took off on foot down Spring Mountain.

The footage shows an officer pulling up behind the RTC bus. “Right there, right there, right there, that’s him,” someone tells police about a man who is wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

Officers tell Hill to get on the ground — he doesn’t — to drop the knife — he ignores them — only turning back a couple of times toward the officers following him.

A good Samaritan in a Jeep tries to block Hill’s way, but the suspect tinkers with the door, which is apparently locked. If Hill gets inside the vehicle, the situation would’ve worsened, Kelly said.

“Our officers are trained to deal with that, not the public,” Kelly said. “Let us deal with that.”

Hill continues south on Rainbow, where an arriving officer tries to grab him but gets swung at and must back off, police said. Officers are taught to keep a 21-foot distance from armed suspects, so no other officers approach him, Kelly said.

Officer Beaumont Hopson then shot five rounds from a low-lethal shotgun, Kelly said. It wasn’t immediately clear how many struck Hill, but since the cop fired the weapon within five yards from the suspect, it was deemed a deadly force discharge.

Hill continued toward a bus stop where two pedestrians were sitting, Kelly said. The people did not have time to move, and knowing that Hill had already randomly stabbed innocent victims, Officer Keith Hannof pulled his gun’s trigger three times.

Hill was finally subdued. It’d been 10 minutes from the time officers were first dispatched.

This was one of eight Metro-involved shootings in August.

Hill was booked in absentia at the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of attempted murder and one count of resisting arrest while armed.

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