Vegas Strip sidewalk jammed when officer shot at man, police say
Metro Police officers blocked Las Vegas Boulevard South at the scene of an officer-involved shooting on Jan. 22 in Las Vegas. (Mikayla Whitmore /Las Vegas Sun via AP)
LAS VEGAS » Police say a Las Vegas Strip sidewalk was crowded with people viewing a fountain show at the Bellagio resort when an officer answering 911 calls arrived and fired twice at a man wielding a gun.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill showed video today of the suspect, 20-year-old Khaleal Black, pointing an empty snub-nosed revolver at people and pulling the trigger Friday evening.
Black wasn’t wounded, but he fell to the sidewalk and was arrested. McMahill says the officer’s two shots ricocheted off concrete pillars, one bullet grazing the leg of a 4-year-old boy on his father’s shoulders.
The other zipped through clothing of a homeless man sitting nearly 100 yards away. He wasn’t wounded.
McMahill says Black had a history of mental health issues and suicide threats. He’s due in court Wednesday.
3 responses to “Vegas Strip sidewalk jammed when officer shot at man, police say”
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Only people with nine lives are allowed in Vegas.
In some way everybody – from the officer who fired the shots, to the suspect Khaleal Black, to the 4-year-old boy and the homeless man – was extremely lucky that night.
What a situation to be in for that officer. He’s got to choose between doing nothing and giving an armed man opportunity to harm others, or discharging 9mm jacketed rounds on a crowded sidewalk at close range — dangerous to others even if he’d hit his target dead center. Lucky is right. In all kinds of ways.