By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
SPARKS, Nev. — Body camera video released by the Sparks Police Department captures the intense chaos that resulted in multiple officers being injured and a fatal officer-involved shooting.
The incident started when an officer conducted a traffic stop during the afternoon of March 29, police said in a critical incident briefing released on April 12.
As the officer approached the car, he was immediately shot at through the driver’s side window by the suspect, body camera video shows. The officer was shot in the neck, head and at least one bullet was lodged into his uniform vest, police said.
While shooting at the officer, video shows the suspect driving away before running a stop sign. The suspect’s vehicle was hit by a U-Haul, causing his vehicle to become disabled. The suspect then fled from the scene on foot.
Minutes after the suspect fled from the scene, dispatch received a 911 call stating that a man had forcibly entered a home not far from the crash scene. The caller stated that she had been cooking in the kitchen when the suspect confronted her with a firearm. The woman told dispatchers she feared for her and her children’s lives and used the knife she was holding to cut the suspect, who then fled from the residence.
Officers and deputies from multiple agencies then set up a perimeter and issued a shelter-in-place, police said.
During a door-to-door search for the suspect, law enforcement advised a woman trying to leave the area to stay inside her home. Shortly after, officers returned to her house to check if the suspect was inside. When they arrived, they found the victim answering the door while lying on the floor. Upon identifying themselves, the suspect inside opened fire, injuring a Washoe County deputy and a Sparks police officer.
The investigation revealed that the woman had been kidnapped and held hostage by the suspect, who was hiding in the backseat of her car, demanding to be driven out of the search area, according to police.
In the body camera video, officers can be heard urgently shouting to evacuate the woman to safety. Police quickly pull her by the arms and legs, taking cover behind a police car across the street.
At this moment, the suspect fired through an officer’s vest and shot the hearing protection off a deputy’s head. Following this second ambush, the suspect jumped over a fence. Shortly thereafter, dispatchers received a frantic call from a woman claiming she was terrified and barricaded in her bathroom after a man with a gun broke into her home.
The suspect exited the house and tried to hide behind a backyard shed, with aerial footage capturing his movements. After briefly lurking in the backyard, he re-entered the home. Crisis negotiators and SWAT teams from various agencies then engaged, attempting to coax him into surrendering peacefully. Despite hours of negotiation, the suspect remained non-compliant, police said.
By 7:30 p.m., SWAT members entered the garage and were ambushed by the suspect for a third time. The standoff lasted two additional hours, with the suspect unresponsive. Believing he might have been injured during the gunfire, authorities sent in a medical team, which found the suspect deceased.
The nearly nine-hour incident concluded with all injured officers treated at a hospital and subsequently released.