Las Vegas police shoot, kill man suspected of robbing bank
Las Vegas police shot and killed a man on Wednesday morning in the northwest valley.
Officers responded to a robbery call at 11:37 a.m., Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Carlos Hank told reporters. A man had committed multiple robberies, including at a bank, Hank said.
Police tracked the man to Cheyenne Avenue and Tenaya Way, where the man got out of a vehicle and “produced a handgun,” Hank said. Police then shot him.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Hank did not say which hospital the man was taken to or what his condition was before he left the scene.
Hank confirmed that the police shooting was connected to an earlier bank robbery. Police dispatch logs show officers responded to 7280 W. Lake Mead Blvd. after a report of a robbery. The Mountain America Credit Union still had police tape and was closed as of Thursday afternoon.
Lashawn Townsend said she was driving in the area of Cheyenne and Tenaya when she saw two police officers shoot the man.
“I don’t know, when this man was on the ground, she just kept shooting this man,” she said, referring to an officer. “He kept bucking. I’m thinking they’re tasing him, he’s bucking, but that’s bullets.”
Police then told everyone in the area to turn around, Townsend said. She was alone in the car with her two dogs. She saw another person in the area and called to her, on a video she recorded right after the shooting.
Townsend was adamant that the man was unarmed.
“I said ‘lady, lady, did they just kill this man?’ Townsend said. “And she’s yelling and screaming, and I’ve got the recording of it, and she’s saying, ‘Yes! Yes!’ And I just kept going after that, because I was in disbelief. I don’t know what he did. I don’t know if he’s a mass murderer, but that man didn’t have no weapon in his hand.”
Police are expected to release the officers’ names Friday.
Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.
