Prosecutor: Man shot by officers at Red Rock Canyon was ‘suicidal’

A Clark County prosecutor said Friday that a Colorado man who survived a police shooting at the Red Rock Canyon scenic loop a day earlier was “suicidal” and purposely driving “erratically” to catch law enforcement’s attention.

Erik Legried, 29, also told investigators that he intended to take his life in jail, Deputy District Attorney Shanon Clowers said at a court hearing that the suspect refused to attend Friday afternoon.

She called Legried an “extreme danger not only to the community, but to himself” in opposing a defense attorney’s motion for release without bail.

Judge Daniel Westmeyer set bail at $100,000 on the condition that Legried stay out of trouble and submit to high-level monitoring house arrest. It was not clear if the suspect had posted the money and been released.

Legried, who is next due in court Tuesday, was in custody before the hearing at the Clark County Detention Center on several felony counts, including four counts of battery with a use of a deadly weapon against a first responder and evading arrest.

Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Travis Smaka said Thursday that troopers, Metro officers and Bureau of Land Management rangers responded to a report of a driver, possibly armed, in distress near the scenic loop entry just after 7 a.m. When they arrived, the man used a black Toyota Tacoma to ram police vehicles and was shot by at least one Highway Patrol trooper near the parking lot of the visitor center, Smaka said. He also said that the suspect had used his truck to damage fencing near a campground in the same area.

After being briefly hospitalized with unspecified injuries, Legried was booked at the jail.

In an interview with investigators, Legried told them he had driven recklessly in the Summerlin area to get a Metro officer’s attention before heading to Red Rock Canyon, Clowers said.

About 20 people present at the park’s visitor center when the shooting occurred had to be “ushered” to safety, she said.

Smaka said an investigation is ongoing to discern how many officers discharged their weapons and which officers actually shot Legried. Metro said none of its officers fired any shots.

Las Vegas Valley court records showed no history of arrests in Southern Nevada for Legried. The scenic loop, meanwhile, was open on Friday.

Clowers said Legried, a private high school debate coach who works remotely, has no local ties and rented the pickup in Colorado. She said he had a domestic violence case pending in that state and a restraining order against him.

In arguing for Legried’s release without bail, Christopher Mishler argued that his client, a native of Wisconsin, has a “strong family unit and support” and said his parents were trying to get him mental health treatment.

Should Legried be released, Mishler said, he would live with his mother, and they would transport him to Las Vegas for future court hearings.

Through the attorney, Legried’s father, who attended the hearing, declined to comment.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter. Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.