Police: Residents shoot, kill man suspected of trying to break into Spring Valley home

Residents in a Spring Valley neighborhood shot and killed a man suspected of trying to break into their house Thursday morning, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Police said they do not expect an arrest.

At around 7:40 a.m., police responded to a call from residents in the 6400 block of Placer Drive. The residents told police that a man had just broken the glass of their door, said Metro Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson in a briefing Thursday.

As officers were on their way to the home, a 911 dispatcher heard a shot being fired over the call. The residents said that they had just shot the man, Johansson said.

Officers arriving on the scene found the man in the driveway. He was given medical attention and taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Johansson said.

The residents, who confronted the man outside of their house, have been “extremely cooperative,” police said.

“The male was acting extremely irrational and was not listening to what they were telling him,” Johansson said. “They continued telling him to leave the property, at which time he moved towards the doorway where they were at, where the homeowner felt the need to shoot the man.”

Police do not believe there’s any relationship between the residents, a man and woman in their 20s, and the man, Johansson said.

Police have obtained surveillance footage from a camera located across the street from the residence and are searching the neighborhood for more.

While an arrest is not anticipated, Johansson said, the shooting will be reviewed by the Clark County district attorney’s office to determine if any charges will be filed.

Johansson said that police were not aware of any other reports of break-ins from other residents on the street.

Police said there are “elements of self defense” present, but that whether or not the residents did the right thing by shooting the man will be, in part, “dictated by what people’s perception was of what was about to happen to them at that time,” Johansson said. “I can’t insert my own beliefs into that. I need to see how the facts play out.”

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.