LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Surveillance video shows a man armed with a rifle just inside the doorway of a downtown Las Vegas apartment complex where he was shot by police last week.
Asst. Sheriff Yasenia Yatomi of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department identified the man as 49-year-old Seth Samuel Wilson. He was fatally shot by officers responding to reports of an armed man at the apartment building near 9th Street and Ogden Avenue on Thursday, June 20.
Wilson was armed with a .223 caliber Sturm Ruger rifle during the encounter with apartment residents and police, Yatomi said.
Yatomi played audio from a 911 caller who encountered Wilson in the building's lobby.
"...as soon as I opened the door...there's a guy — I mean, I can't even believe what the heck I'm saying right now — a guy standing there, pointing a rifle, semi-automatic rifle, at the door, basically where my head just was, and I'm thinking, 'Jesus Christ, this can't be real,' an apartment resident told 911 dispatchers.
He went on to describe Wilson as wearing a "red Make America Great" hat and jeans.
WATCH: You can see and hear the 911 call audio and surveillance video Metro showed reporters:
Surveillance video played by Yatomi shows the 911 caller's encounter with Wilson in the apartment lobby before police were summoned to the building at approximately 12:07 p.m.
Officers determined Wilson lived in an apartment on the third floor. Yatomi says a police sergeant was able to reach Wilson by phone and instructed him to surrender peacefully.
"After several moments, Wilson said 'I'm done with this," and hung up," Yatomi said.
Minutes later, she said Wilson exited the apartment holding a rifle with the muzzle pointed toward the ceiling. Body-worn camera footage shows officers hastily commanding Wilson to drop the weapon before Yatomi says he "lowered the muzzle of the rifle toward the officers standing in the hallway," both of whom then fired their own rifles at him. Wilson was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.
The two officers who shot Wilson were previously identified as Matthew Kravetz and Andrew Buckland. Kravetz, 35, has been an LVMPD employee since 2015. Buckland, 39, has been with the department since 2017.
Both officers are assigned to the Tourist Safety Division of the Downtown Area Command and are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review of the shooting.
Had he survived, Yatomi says Wilson would have faced multiple felony charges, including two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a protected person, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting a public officer with a firearm.
This shooting is the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's fifth officer-involved shooting this year and the department's fifth fatal officer-involved shooting of 2024. At this time in 2023, Yatomi says there had been two shootings involving Metro police.
WATCH: Metro police captain gives initial details of fatal police shooting in downtown Las Vegas
