Las Vegas officer fired 4 shots at woman who got into ‘firing stance,’ police say
A Las Vegas police officer on Friday night fired four times at a woman who “aimed an object” and got into a “firing stance” as if she was going to shoot, police said.
The officer, who had been pursuing the woman in a nighttime foot chase through a residential neighborhood, thought she was aiming a gun, but investigators later determined that she had only been carrying keys and a cell phone, a Metropolitan Police Department assistant sheriff said at a news conference Wednesday.
Lindsay Harris, 39, who police said had five outstanding warrants, was arrested early Saturday after Metro officers responded to a “suspicious vehicle” near West Flamingo and South Fort Apache roads. She hadn’t been hit by any of gunfire, police said.
Harris, whom officers located after receiving a call about a person asleep inside a white Lincoln Navigator, which police determined had a stolen license plate, ultimately surrendered after about three hours, Assistant Sheriff Yasenia Yatomi said during the news conference.
According to police, Harris first fled police who attempted to make contact with her at a nearby gas station. When they followed her, she abandoned the Navigator along the curb on the 4200 block of Quilting Bear Street and fled on foot, hiding behind a pillar of a home’s entryway.
Though Officer Xavier MacNeill ordered Harris to stop, Yatomi said, she continued to run and hide, reaching into her purse as she fled. Eventually, Harris stopped between two houses and shielded herself with a bush, police said. Harris then threw an “unknown object,” later identified as a cell phone.
MacNeill, believing Harris was “aiming at” him, shot at the woman four times. At the news conference, Yatomi shared photos and footage of Harris crouching in what she called a “firing stance” and pointing toward officers.
“Officer MacNeill repositioned himself to the front corner of the second residence and held Harris at gunpoint. He continued to order Harris to comply to get her to surrender,” Yatomi said. “Harris remained behind the bush, and Officer MacNeill observed her aim an object at him, which he believed was a firearm.”
After escaping for the final time, Harris barricaded herself in a shed in the backyard of a home for two hours before she “peacefully surrendered” and was taken into custody, Yatomi said.
Police, who requested medical personnel, later learned that Harris was not hit by the gunfire, according to a news release.
Yatomi said that Harris was booked on suspicion of residential burglary, as well as on the five outstanding warrants. The other warrants were for charges including possession of a stun gun by a felon and possession of a stolen vehicle.
The incident was the 12th officer-involved shooting in 2024 in Metro’s jurisdiction and the fifth nonfatal shooting this year, Yatomi said. This time last year, Metro had six officer-involved shootings; two were fatal, and the other four were not.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.