Las Vegas police shoot knife-wielding man outside east valley business

Officers shot a knife-wielding man early Wednesday morning in the east Las Vegas Valley, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

The shooting occurred in the 6400 block of Boulder Highway near East Russell Road around 4:41 a.m., Captain Kurt McKenzie said at a media briefing.

It was the third shooting involving Metro police in six days. According to a Metro news release, it was the seventh police shooting this year.

McKenzie said officers got a call about a man armed with a knife outside a business in that block. The man was threatening customers, he said.

Police did not specify which business was involved, but their activity seemed to focus on a Sinclair gas station with a Jack in the Box restaurant at one corner of the intersection.

When officers arrived, they found that the man was armed with two knives. He did not obey repeated commands to drop them, McKenzie said. The man moved towards the entrance of the business, which had customers inside, and officers tried to stop him with less lethal measures.

When he charged at officers, police fired at the man, striking him, McKenzie said. McKenzie said he did not know how many shots were fired.

Officers then performed life-saving care, McKenzie said. The man was taken to a hospital.

McKenzie did not answer questions about which less lethal measures were used or how many officers were involved. He and a Metro public information officer said that information would be provided in a later briefing.