New charges filed in Las Vegas officer shooting

Prosecutors added new felony charges against a 20-year-old man accused of shooting and critically wounding Las Vegas police officer Shay Mikalonis.

Edgar Samaniego, who is being held at the Clark County Detention Center, was charged Thursday with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm.

Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci said Samaniego fired three shots near Circus Circus on June 1. The new counts named seven SWAT officers as victims who were nearby Mikalonis at the time of the shooting.

Samaniego also faces charges of attempted murder and battery with use of a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting of Mikalonis.

Authorities have said Samaniego walked west along Circus Circus Drive as he fired the first shot from a Glock 19 handgun that struck Mikalonis in the left cheek.

The 29-year-old officer and four-year veteran of the force collapsed as the bullet pierced his spine and lodged into the right side of his face, while Samaniego walked toward a nearby Travelodge hotel, according to prosecutors and video surveillance.

Samaniego and Mikalonis were about 50 feet apart as the officer was handcuffing an individual, authorities have said. The officer was paralyzed from the neck down, and he is expected to be on a ventilator for life.

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