Police officer shoots suspect

Joseph Ronald Neal was in critical condition at University Medical Center late Wednesday after being shot once, said Capt. James Dillon, head of the robbery/ homicide bureau.

Officers were called to 5485 Flamingo Road, at Lindell Road, at 1:47 p.m. with a report of a man with a gun. Three officers arrived to find an armed man in the parking lot of a Terrible Herbst’s convenience store trying to rob a man in a car.

The officers challenged Neal, who turned and approached an officer, Dillon said. She fired three times, and one of the shots struck Neal, Dillon said.

Neal didn’t fire at the officers.

Dillon said a review of the surveillance tape showed that Neal had been hanging around the convenience store parking lot since about 9 a.m. Investigators believed he was casing the location.

The officer’s name was withheld and is to be released 48 hours after the incident.

Neighbor Lorrin Ortstadt, 21, said she avoids the store after the sun goes down.

“There’s always somebody lurking in the alley back there,” she said.

People often are hanging around the parking lot and will greet her with cat calls when she visits the business, Ortstadt said.

Steve Yang, 37, was cleaning his apartment across from the convenience store when he thought he heard firecrackers go off.

“It was bang, bang, bang. I didn’t think it was anything. It didn’t sound loud enough to be a gun,” he said.

Yang disagreed with his neighbor about the safety of the store, saying he goes there frequently to buy cigarettes no matter the time of day.

“I always feel comfortable,” he said.

Dillon said Neal was from Lake Charles, La., where he had an extensive criminal record. Neal had no criminal history in Las Vegas, Dillon said.

Investigators were looking for another man who might have been involved in the robbery attempt but fled the scene when police arrived.

This is at least the fifth Metropolitan Police Department officer-involved shooting of 2007.

The first occurred on New Year’s Day when four Las Vegas police officers fired at Ivan Ariza at a condominium complex at 2700 Rainbow Blvd., near Smoke Ranch Road.

The second occurred Feb. 9 when officers shot police recruit Ivan Alonzo, who had fired at them. The Clark County coroner’s office later ruled that Alonzo had shot and killed himself, though an officer’s bullet had struck him.

On Feb. 26, 28-year-old Justin Brimmer was killed after engaging officers in a gunfight. Brimmer fired at and struck Officer Ricardo Lara seven times. Lara returned fire and killed Brimmer. At the time, police believed Brimmer was a suspect in a fight that occurred outside a nearby restaurant. Brimmer later was found not to have been involved. A second officer also was injured in that incident.

On May 5, a Las Vegas police officer shot and killed 53-year-old Javier Escamilla after he pointed a gun at the officer. Police said Escamilla had been stalking his ex-girlfriend when police chased him and confronted him after he wrecked a pickup.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.