Las Vegas officer who shot robbery suspect is 16-year veteran

The Metropolitan Police Department identified the officer involved in Saturday’s shooting of a man at a Decatur Boulevard gas station.

He was Sgt. Miguel Garcia, a 16-year veteran of the force, the department said.

The shooting occurred about 10:40 a.m. Saturday at a Terrible’s gas station at 1591 N. Decatur Blvd., near the intersection of Vegas Drive and Decatur Boulevard, while police were searching for the suspect in connection with two attempted robberies nearby.

Police said the suspect emerged from his dark green Honda swinging a baseball bat and smashed a door window at the gas station’s convenience store.

Police first fired beanbags at the suspect. When he did not respond, Garcia fired at the suspect and hit “his lower extremity,” Metro Capt. Robert Plummer said in a press briefing Saturday afternoon.

The suspect was taken to University Medical Center and is expected to survive; no officers were injured.

Garcia, 39, who joined the department in February 2001, was placed on routine paid administrative leave pending a review of the incident.

It was Metro’s 22nd officer-involved shooting this year.

Contact Jessie Bekker at jbekker@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @jessiebekks on Twitter.