Video shows suspect fired 19 times at Las Vegas police before arrest
A man fired 19 shots at Las Vegas police officers from a 9mm handgun, police said Tuesday, describing how one officer exchanged gunfire with the suspect in the central valley on the weekend.
Police body camera footage captured the encounter between two Metropolitan Police Department officers and the gunman as police responded to calls of gunfire in the 2600 block of Mesquite Avenue, near Bonanza Road and Eastern Avenue, at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
As officer Daniel Clark and an unnamed partner walked nearby, the suspect fired several shots at them, Assistant Sheriff Christopher Darcy said at a news briefing.
The video showed a shadowy figure, later identified as 29-year-old Donta Ford, in a dark alleyway near an apartment building with its arm apparently raised just as gunshots rang out.
Clark, 30, returned fire with his Glock 22 service pistol as the officers took cover.
“Ford fired a second volley of shots toward the officers as he ran back into his apartment,” said Darcy, who removed his face mask to address reporters inside police headquarters.
Clark shot back again, firing a total of seven times.
After several hours, with SWAT officers surrounding the apartment, police learned that Ford was no longer inside, Darcy said. It was not until about 7:30 a.m. that another officer spotted Ford near Eastern and Cedar avenues about two blocks away and arrested him “without incident,” Darcy said.
Ford, 29, is facing six felony counts, including two each of attempted murder and discharging a gun at/into an occupied structure/vehicle/craft, court records show. He was being held on $500,000 bail at the Clark County Detention Center.
Clark has worked for Metro since 2017. He is assigned to the Tourist Safety Division of the Downtown Area Command.
The incident marked the 19th time Metro officers fired their weapons or were shot at in 2020, Darcy said. Ten of those shootings have been fatal for the suspect. That figure is an increase from four fatal shootings involving police a year earlier.
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