Reno shootout victim: ‘Lucky’ to be alive

RENO — A Reno man says he’s lucky to be alive after he was shot in a struggle with an armed robber who later was killed in a gunbattle with police outside a Reno casino.

John Oliver said Tuesday that he tried to intervene when he saw the gunman at a CVS Pharmacy south of downtown about 5 p.m. Sunday.

“The gun was going back and forth, the middle of my chest, the side of my chest,” Oliver told KOLO-TV. “When he said, ‘You don’t want to do this,’ that’s when I pushed as hard as I could and the gunshot went off, and nailed me in my side.”

“The doctor said if it was an inch more, I would have been dead,” Oliver said after he was treated and released the day before from Renown Regional Medical Center.

Police have not identified the gunman who was shot and killed by police after a chase that ended with the shootout in front of the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino.

The suspect who died Sunday at a Reno hospital fled in a vehicle after robbing the drugstore, exchanging gunfire with officers before exiting the vehicle at the casino, investigators said.

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office is leading a criminal investigation into the shooting. Reno police confirmed Tuesday they have launched an internal administrative review.

“This is a standard investigation in accordance with RPD policies and the Officer Involved Shooting Protocol,” Reno police said in a statement.

Police have declined to comment on how many officers were involved in the shooting, saying only that the officers involved were on paid administrative leave “pending initial criminal review and fitness for duty evaluation.”