< 12px;">< 12px;">There has been a rise in officer-involved shootings this year by Metro Police, including a pair of shootings in the last two weeks, data show. Responding officers on 12 occasions have fired their weapons at a suspect — eight times resulting in their death. In 2023, there were 10 shootings involving officers, five of which were fatal.

< 12px;">< 12px;">The increase in fatal shootings follows a trend nationwide, according to a Washington Post database, with 2023 being the year with the highest total of fatal police shootings on record, with 1,164. On average, The Post’s data show police in the United States shoot and kill more than 1,000 people a year. Officials with Las Vegas Metro, by state law, give a briefing after every officer-involved shooting.

< 12px;">< 12px;"> When asked last week about the increase following the latest incident, a department official said there was no change in policy precipitating the spike. “Of course, our goal is to have zero officer-involved shootings, and we continually train our department to operate in a capacity where we’re able to use less lethal options,” Assistant Sheriff Yasenia Yatomi said during a press conference about a fatal police shooting early this month.

< 12px;">< 12px;">“Our goal is to never have an officer involved in a shooting or any senseless loss of life.” Police shootings are often complex situations and usually the result of split-second decisions made by officers in reaction to perceived threats. Metro policy requires that shootings by its officers be investigated internally by multiple teams and publicly documented extensively, even if no one is struck by the gunfire.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Firing a service weapon is considered a “last resort” by department officials and is intended to only be used in dire situations or when less-lethal methods, like tasers or beanbag shotguns, have been exhausted. Those less-lethal weapons were deployed by Metro in half of police shootings in 2024, four of which still resulted in fatalities from gunfire.

< 12px;">< 12px;">“We’re continuing our efforts to deescalate the situation, as lethal force is our last option,” Yatomi said during a news conference about an officer-involved shooting in June. “So as you can see, these incidents are ever-evolving and so dynamic.” Electronic control devices, commonly known as tasers, are the most common type of less-lethal force deployed by Metro and are designed to seize a person’s body up and prevent them from moving.

< 12px;">< 12px;">< 12px; font-family: Arial;">“Of course, our goal is to have zero officer-involved shootings, and we continually train our department to operate in a capacity where we’re able to use less lethal options. Our goal is to never have an officer involved in a shooting or any senseless loss of life.”

< 12px;">< 12px;">Yasenia Yatomi, assistant sheriff for Metro Police, during a press conference about a fatal officer-involved shooting this month

< 12px;">< 12px;">Tasers are often deployed only seconds before police discharge their service weapons, as they may not be immediately effective as armed suspects maintain their approaches toward law enforcement. In 2023, the control devices were effective 70% of the time, according to Metro Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren.

< 12px;">< 12px;"> “In some cases it is ineffective, where it doesn’t gain that full body lock, and the person is able to fight through it and continue to be a threat,” Koren said during a September press conference about a fatal police shooting in which a man was struck with three tasers that were ineffective as he approached officers with a metal bat.

< 12px;">< 12px;">While the number of police shootings in 2024 passed the previous year’s total, it is still an improvement from five years ago. In 2020 — at a time when police and their use of force were under public scrutiny following the excessive force death of George Floyd by police in Minnesota — there were 19 police shootings by Metro, 10 of which were fatal.

< 12px;">< 12px;"> Since then, total annual officer-involved shootings have hovered from 10 to 14, with six to eight being fatal. Despite the differing circumstances from case to case, one factor is most present: the subjects Metro Police are firing at almost always have a weapon visibly in hand. All but four subjects who were fired at since 2022 were armed with either a knife or a gun, and only one was unarmed.

< 12px;">< 12px;"> The unarmed subject, 29-year-old Lindsay Harris, was involved in the most recent shooting Oct. 18, when she led officers on a brief chase on the 4900 block of South Fort Apache Road before being cornered behind a bush and fired at by an officer, according to body cam footage. The officer fired at her after he believed she pointed a gun at him, but she was holding car keys and a phone, police said.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Harris was not struck by gunfire. A day earlier, an officer shot and injured a suspect at an apartment complex near Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Boulevard. Officers spotted a stolen license plate on the car the suspect was driving and initiated a vehicle pursuit, Metro said. The suspect led them to the apartment complex, exiting the vehicle and starting to run. He later pulled a gun on the officer and was shot.

< 12px;">< 12px;"> “As you can see, he pointed a firearm at our cop,” Assistant Sheriff Jamie Prosser said at a Monday briefing archived online. It is also uncommon for officers to be injured during the events leading to a police shooting, with 11% of police shootings resulting in an injured officer since 2022, according to press releases from the department.

< 12px;">< 12px;">Only one officer has been killed in an officer-involved shooting in the past five years, and no officers have been injured in police shootings in 2024. Police shootings have also not correlated with crime rates in Southern Nevada. Crime in Metro’s jurisdiction in Clark County is down 7.8% compared with the same time last year, according to Metro’s Oct. 18 crime briefing, a continued decrease from the year before.

< 12px;">< 12px;">While officer-involved shootings cannot be predicted, at least two have occurred in the months of November and December every year since 2019, meaning the number may still increase before the year closes. “There are internal investigations and internal conversations that continually happen daily,” Yatomi said. “We are concerned, but we are very grateful that our officers are safe.”

< 12px;">< 12px;">ayden.runnels@gmgvegas.com / 702- 990-8926 /@a_y_denrunnels