Shooting death at Tarkanian’s ruled justifiable

A coroner’s inquest jury decided unanimously Thursday a Las Vegas police officer was justified in shooting a 19-year-old man eight times, a killing that sparked a riot outside Tarkanian’s Celebrity Sports Club.

Jarvis Delane Rice was killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 4 after police said he was involved in a shoottout between gangs outside the club at 4550 S. Maryland Parkway.

After hearing 18 witnesses, including Las Vegas police officers, security guards and others who saw the shooting, the seven-member jury left the courtroom at 6 p.m. to deliberate. A decision was returned 28 minutes later.

The officer who killed Rice, Sgt. Gary G. Schofield, testified he fired only after Rice turned and pointed a gun at him. He said he continued shooting until he felt he was out of danger.

The seven-year veteran of the force who was promoted to sergeant in May said he and other officers were patrolling the area because of complaints of fights and drug dealing in the parking lot.

When Rice began shooting, an officer who was on the roof of the sports club broadcast the incident on the radio. Schofield was in the parking lot when the fracas began about 3 a.m.

"I heard multiple shots being fired and lots of people were screaming," Schofield testified. "It was a stampede of people and it was hard to see what was going on. A lot of people were screaming as the rounds were being fired."

Once Schofield got about 10 feet away from Rice, he kneeled and yelled for him to drop the gun. At that time, Rice wheeled around and pointed the gun at him, the officer said.

"I shot one round and then I shot another round. He continued to turn to me. Then I shot a third and it didn’t do anything to him. Then I shot the fourth round," Schofield testified.

He said four other shots followed because Rice made an effort to reach for his weapon while he was on the ground.

Sighs from Rice’s family followed Schofield’s description of the shooting.

They refused to comment on the verdict.

The early morning shooting of Rice touched off a window-smashing, bottle-throwing melee. Windows were broken in a few nearby businesses and Maryland Parkway was blocked off for about 45 minutes while police and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers attempted to control the crowd.

Security at the county courthouse was beefed up to unprecedented levels Thursday at the coroner’s inquest because of fears of gang violence. Additional bailiffs and Las Vegas SWAT and gang unit officers were on duty, but no problems occurred.

Las Vegas police officer John Sheahan said he had the best view of the shooting because he had been on the club’s roof for about three hours before the incident started.

Other members of his squad were staked out in the UNLV parking lot across the street from the club. Earlier in the evening, Sheahan alerted officers about a man whom they later arrested on drug charges. Fifteen rocks of cocaine were confiscated.

Like a few others, Sheahan testified there were about 200 people in the parking lot at all times. Two other people testified there were only 25 people in the parking lot at the time of the shooting.

A videotape of the violence that followed the shooting was subpoenaed from KTNV-TV, Channel 13, so jurors could have a better idea of the crowd’s reaction.

Dr. G. Sheldon Green, chief medical examiner and assistant coroner, testified Rice died from internal bleeding caused by one of the eight bullets that struck his chest and gouged his liver.

Green said out of all the shots that struck his back, shoulder and buttocks, if it had not been for the shot to his chest, Rice might be alive today.