Officer’s first day involves death

A police officer on her first day of regular patrol duty was identified Monday as one of the two officers involved in a fatal police shooting over the weekend.

Chuck Walthers of Las Vegas was shot three times in the chest on Saturday when he opened the front door of his trailer home with a gun in his hand, police said.

Deputy Chief John Sullivan said five shots were fired by the officers. The three bullets that struck Walthers were fired by officer Gary W. Casper, 28, a five-year veteran of the department.

Officer Cindy Rodriguez, 25, fired two shots that did not strike Walthers, 44.

The shooting occurred on Rodriguez’s first day on the job after completing field training.

Sullivan said Rodriguez has been with the department for two years and has been working as a police officer for 11 months. Field training, which follows graduation from the police academy, lasts two to three months.

The shooting occurred about 1 p.m. at Sunrise Pointe Mobile Home Community, 4800 E. Cheyenne Ave.

In a police statement that was released hours after the shooting, Sullivan said police were responding to a woman’s complaint of being threatened by Walthers.

The statement said officers knocked at the door several times before they heard someone running toward the door.

"The door was suddenly opened, and the occupant confronted the officers with a small-caliber, semiautomatic pistol in hands. The officers fired several shots, killing the suspect." No shots were fired by Walthers.

Both officers have been placed on paid administrative leave until a coroner’s inquest is held to determine whether the shooting was justified.

A date has not been set for the inquest, but it is usually held a week to 10 days after any death involving police.

This was the sixth police-involved shooting death this year. All of the previous shootings this year have been ruled justifiable.