Man asked to be shot, grabbed gun during traffic stop, police say

The man fatally shot by a sergeant during a traffic stop last week had asked to be shot before pulling a rifle out of his car, Las Vegas police said Monday.

Assistant Sheriff Chris Jones said in a video briefing that the man, Jesus Caballero-Herrera, 38, told Sgt. Timothy Stovall, 51, that he had been having family issues. The Clark County coroner’s office has identified him as Jesus Caballero.

Caballero had a criminal history including entering the country illegally and “possession of forged instruments out of Arizona,” Jones said.

Jones said Stovall, a plainclothes officer assigned to the Gangs Vice Bureau’s investigative services division, was driving an unmarked police vehicle on northbound Interstate 15 around 8:42 p.m. on Wednesday when he noticed someone driving recklessly.

Stovall called in to report a GMC Yukon driving over 100 mph that he said nearly hit multiple cars and the median. Jones said Stovall followed the Yukon and caught up as the car was pulling off the interstate onto Apex Road, northeast of the Las Vegas Valley.

Stovall was able to conduct a traffic stop around 8:49 p.m. and called for backup, Jones said. Caballero got out of the SUV and began talking to Stovall, Jones said.

Caballero told Stovall that he was having family issues and asked the sergeant to shoot him, Jones said. He told Stovall that he had a rifle in his car.

Jones said the two men talked for about six minutes before Stovall reported that shots had been fired. Caballero did not fire his weapon, and Stovall fired nine rounds, Jones said.

Because Stovall works as a plainclothes officer, Jones said, he is not required to wear a body camera. Body camera footage from the first arriving officer shows Caballero lying on the ground by the driver’s side door of the Yukon.

Stovall told the officer that he shot Caballero after the man pulled his rifle out of the car, the body camera footage shows. He told the officer that Caballero was talking about his family and saying goodbye to his children after he was shot.

Jones said arriving officers put two tourniquets on Caballero before he was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.

Jones said it was the department’s sixth police shooting, and second fatal, this year.

Contact Alexis Egeland at aegeland@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Foll0w @alexis_egeland on Twitter.