‘Tremendous courage’: Las Vegas officers who helped shot colleague recognized

At rush hour on Feb. 2, the Metropolitan Police Department responded to reports of a man who was running into traffic on U.S. Highway 95.

Police believed the man, Dylan Thomas Branson, was suicidal. An officer chased the man and took him down, but in a struggle at U.S. 95 and Charleston Boulevard, the officer’s gun went off and he was wounded, Metro previously said.

Fellow officers who rushed to help the officer who was shot were honored during a Metro commendation ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.

The award they received, for meritorious service, “demonstrates the brotherhood that exists in law enforcement,” said Jamie Ioos, Metro’s director of public information.

When the call came out that an officer had been shot, officer Antonio Valencia-Barajas helped injured officer Matthew Nardone, Ioos said.

Officer Derek Reynolds also heard the call and rushed to help. On the way, he got into a car crash so severe that it triggered his air bags, she said, but he still kept going to help his colleague.

“Officer Reynolds showed tremendous courage by prioritizing the life of another officer above his own injuries,” Ioos said.

Valencia-Barajas drove Reynolds and Nardone to UMC trauma.

“Officer Valencia-Barajas made sound decisions and acted in a manner consistent with the highest standards of our department,” she said.

Nardone helped present the awards and hugged each of the officers as they came onstage.

In an interview after the ceremony, Nardone said the suspect shot him in the leg while police were trying to take the suspect in to custody. It was the worst day of his life, he said, but it was nice to know his colleagues had his back.

Nardone said he’d never met Valencia-Barajas before the shooting, but Reynolds was in the police academy with him and trained with him. The two have gone to each other’s houses and Nardone has seen Reynolds’ kids grow up, he said. For about two years, they’ve worked in the same area.

When he heard that Nardone had been shot, Reynolds’ reaction was “that my best friend just got shot,” he said. “I didn’t know if he was going to make it.”

Reynolds got into his accident driving southbound on the highway’s northbound lanes when a vehicle stopped in front of him. He had a concussion and injured his back.

After about five months of leave, countless doctor’s visits, physical therapy and mental therapy, Nardone is happy to be back to work as a beat officer on the east side of the city.

Today, Nardone and Reynolds, who also had to take leave after the incident, are working together in the Southeast Area Command.

Nardone said, “I’m thankful every single day for these two men coming up there, saving my life, getting me out of danger and getting me the help I needed.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.