Las Vegas police honor officers in 2017 hostage situation

Las Vegas police officers were honored Wednesday afternoon for their efforts in saving a 3-year-old girl during a hostage situation in 2017.

Officers Gregory Anton, Skeeter Black, Blake Dixon, Sergio Felix, Thomas Keller, Andrew Loos, Michael Nolan and Juan Ostorga, as well as Sgt. Cord Overson and Lt. W. Graham, were among the 120 Metropolitan Police Department employees commended for their “bravery and excellence” for various acts at a ceremony at Metro’s headquarters.

They were recognized for their actions on June 24, 2017, when a neighbor called officers about 9:40 p.m. and reported that a woman came to his house on the 6500 block of Assembly Drive, near Torrey Pines Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard, asking for help.

Her boyfriend, George Marcus Tillman, had shot her in the arm.

Tillman had locked himself in his home with multiple guns and the couple’s 3-year-old.

With officers posted outside the house, Tillman stood at the open front door wearing a gun belt with additional magazines, Metro Sgt. Jeff Clark told the room full of officers and their families at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Dixon tried speaking with Tillman, but he retreated into the house, Clark said.

“Within moments of getting into their position, they were met by gunfire,” Clark said. “Two gunshots were fired at officers Keller and Anton by the suspect, hitting a nearby block wall and striking them with debris.”

Fearing that Tillman would harm the child, SWAT entered the house at 12:05 a.m. on June 25.

Dramatic body camera footage from that night captured the sound of Tillman shooting at officers as they walked through the hallway and then the bedroom, where he was sitting in bed next to his daughter.

As several officers entered the room, one officer scooped the girl up and ran outside.

Officers Cody Thompson and Theodore Carrasco each fired three rounds at Tillman, who died at University Medical Center.

Neither Thompson nor Carrasco were honored at Wednesday’s ceremony. It wasn’t immediately clear why, spokesman Aden OcampoGomez said, as well as whether they had been previously awarded or would be awarded later.

In June, the Clark County district attorney’s office concluded their shooting was reasonable and justified.

Tillman had threatened his family and his girlfriend’s family in the time leading up to the shooting, District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a release.

“Fortunately, his actions did not result in any other loss of life, especially that of his own child, who was near him in the same room during the shooting,” he said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.