Officer reported stolen patrol vehicle after Las Vegas shooting
A loud sigh punctuates the shouting of officers responding to the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting.
It’s the sigh of a police officer whose patrol vehicle is missing.
“I’m an on-duty unit at the shooting,” the officer says. “My vehicle is the one that was stolen. It is confirmed.”
Body camera footage released Wednesday by the Metropolitan Police Department shows the officer alerting dispatch and other officers, including his sergeant, that his vehicle was taken. The video was part of the 11th court-ordered release of records from the mass shooting since early May.
“I have the AR-15,” the officer confirms on his cellphone. “The shotgun and the low-lethal shotgun are still inside the vehicle.”
Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Jay Rivera confirmed Wednesday that someone took the vehicle on Oct. 1 to transport injured people.
None of the weapons had been removed, and the keys were left with the truck outside Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, he said. It is not clear whether the truck was taken by an officer or a member of the public, Rivera said.
He said the truck was not considered stolen because it was used to preserve life during an emergency.
“In this case, somebody is taking it for a lawful reason,” the spokesman said.
There’s no record of an officer commandeering any citizen vehicles on Oct. 1, but officers did take other officers’ vehicles, Rivera said. Police received multiple reports of citizens taking other citizens’ vehicles that night, he said.
Police also responded to another vehicle recovered at Town Square the next day. The rear passenger seat and left rear door were smeared with blood.
Officer Gregory Sedminik was able to contact the owner, according to his officer’s report. The owner had left the truck in a dirt lot near the concert while he was working.
“It was determined that the vehicle was used possibly for an evacuation vehicle and left at the Town Square parking lot,” Sedminik wrote.
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Contact Madelyn Reese at mreese@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0497. Follow @MadelynGReese on Twitter. Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
