Police: ‘Erratic’ man fatally shot by apartment resident after ‘rushing’ into unit

A man who was “acting erratic” and who “rushed” into someone else’s west Las Vegas apartment was fatally shot by an occupant of the apartment Thursday, police said.

The man, who had been reported to police as acting erratically at two different apartment complexes Thursday morning, was pronounced dead at University Medical Center, according to Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson, who spoke at a press conference Thursday afternoon.

Johansson said Metro officers were called to an apartment complex in the 1100 block of Warbonnet Way around 10:45 a.m. because a man, who was known by residents of the complex, was “acting erratic.”

Complex residents told arriving officers that the man had been checking door handles. But residents didn’t think he was attempting to commit a crime, Johansson said.

Officers couldn’t find the man where he reportedly lived, and they soon learned he had left the complex and headed west on West Charleston Boulevard on foot without shoes.

‘Not making sense’

Johansson said that soon after officers left the first apartment complex around 11:30 a.m., they received a report about a man without shoes acting erratically at Escena apartment complex, which is in the 8300 block of West Charleston Boulevard.

“He was lying on the ground, and was talking and not making sense,” Johansson said.

While they were on their way to the West Charleston Boulevard complex, officers learned that a man had been shot in an apartment there. Johansson said the man who was shot was the same man who was acting erratically at the first complex.

Occupants of an upstairs apartment at the second complex had been on their landing and noticed the man who was acting erratically, according to Johansson. Then the man pushed his shirt up over his head and charged up the stairs of the occupants’ apartment, so the occupants ran into their apartment.

The man jiggled the door handle of the apartment in an attempt to enter, Johansson said.

Shooter cooperating

While the occupants were inside their apartment, they noticed a mom and two kids exiting a nearby apartment. One occupant opened the apartment’s door to tell the family that a man was walking around acting erratically.

As soon the door opened, the man reappeared and rushed into the apartment, Johansson said. Then an occupant shot the man, according to Johansson.

“Immediately the suspect reappeared and rushed into their apartment, at which point in time a firearm was produced and he was shot,” Johansson said.

When officers arrived at the second complex, they found the man who was shot and gave him medical aid before he was taken to UMC.

Johansson said there was no outstanding suspects related to the shooting. He said the shooter was cooperating fully with law enforcement.

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen@reviewjournal.com. Follow @breenreports on X.