On Monday, Las Vegas police released body cam footage of an officer-involved shooting, where an officer appears to shoot at suspects through his windshield.
In the incident that occurred on July 11, officials were in pursuit of a stolen SUV as part of a shooting, and subsequent murder, that occurred earlier that day. However, as the officer picked up speed in his pursuit, weaving in and out of the lanes, the suspect proceeded to fire several shots at the officer.
“Shots fired, shots fired,” the officer yelled to a dispatcher, as he described the suspect and screamed for backup.
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Eventually, the officer pulled his own gun and began to return fire through his own windshield. That’s when the SUV came to a stop, by way of crashing into an elementary school. However, as a suspect tried to flee on foot, the officer used “deadly force” in an attempt to stop him. As for the other suspect, who has been identified as 30-year-old Rene Nunez, he was found hit and hiding on the school premises prior to his arrest.
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Since then, Nunez has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon, attempted murder with a deadly weapon on a protected person, discharging a firearm from a vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon, after he and 23-year-old Fidel Miranda fired 34 shots at the officers in the chase.
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The incident was met with widespread protests over the officer’s use of deadly force, but the LVMPD defended its officer’s actions, including his 11 shots through the windshield, saying, officers “will not fire at, or from a moving vehicle unless it is absolutely necessary.”
