LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Multiple bean bag rounds were used before two officers fired shots at a man wielding a baton in the east Las Vegas Valley last week.
Asst. Sheriff Jamie Prosser of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shared new details and video from the incident with the public on Monday.
The 46-year-old man who was shot by police has now been identified as Luis Sanchez Gomez. He remains hospitalized at University Medical Center in critical condition, Prosser said.
Prosser also outlined what happened when officers were called to the 1500 block of Cobb Lane — near Eastern and Owens avenues — at approximately 2:20 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5.
WATCH: Asst. Sheriff Prosser outlines what happened when officers encountered a man armed with a baton in the east valley last week
Officers had been summoned to the area on reports of a man armed with a bat who was "attempting to strike citizens and vehicles," Prosser said. They encountered Sanchez Gomez wrapped in a blanket and standing in the middle of the roadway.
While officers were trying to contain the area, Prosser said Sanchez Gomez walked to an unoccupied laundromat in the 1500 block of Eastern Avenue and smashed the outer glass windows. At the time, it was believed Sanchez Gomez was armed with a bat, though Prosser said police later identified the weapon as a KOMBATIV armored stun baton.
Sanchez Gomez then approached a second business and smashed the glass door while police ordered him to drop the weapon and told him if he didn't do so, he would be shot with a bean bag round, Prosser said.
When officers hit him with the first bean bag round, Prosser said Sanchez Gomez "turned his attention toward them with the weapon raised above his head." She said police fired more bean bag rounds at him to get him to stop and drop the weapon.
Body-worn camera footage LVMPD shared on Monday shows Sanchez Gomez being hit with the bean bag rounds and then running toward the officers with the baton in his hand.
WATCH: Video shared by LVMPD shows the air unit and body-worn camera footage from this incident
As Sanchez Gomez closed the distance between himself and the police, two officers shot him. They've since been identified as Officers Justin Lee and Victor Robinson.
Lee is 38 and has been employed with LVMPD since 2021. Robinson, 36, has been employed with the department since 2017. Prosser said Lee fired three rounds from a rifle and Robinson fired five rounds from a handgun.
After he was shot, Sanchez Gomez pulled out a kitchen knife and tried to push himself up from the ground, Prosser said. Responding officers shot him with two more beanbag rounds to get him to stay on the ground.
After that, Prosser said police were able to render aid until medical responders arrived and took Sanchez Gomez to University Medical Center.
Asked by reporters about the use of less-lethal force in this incident, Prosser said it was clear the bean bag rounds didn't have the desired effect.
"We deploy them to try and de-escalate the situation," she said. "The low-lethal round is used to cause pain, to get them to drop the weapon. In this case, it didn't work. It was used multiple times and this gentleman was not cooperating."
Prosser also noted this shooting is the 15th involving LVMPD officers so far this year and the seventh non-fatal shooting. At the same time in 2023, the department had recorded eight officer-involved shootings, three of which were fatal.
