By Noble Brigham
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — If he lives to be 98, Tyson Hampton may have a chance of being released from prison.
But until then, the 28-year-old man who admitted to killing Metropolitan Police Department Officer Truong Thai will remain behind bars, Chief District Judge Tierra Jones ruled Monday.
Jones ordered him to serve a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 888 months or 74 years.
Hampton was in jail as his case wound its way through the court system and the judge noted that he has almost four years of credit for time served.
“The cop killer got what he deserved,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after the sentencing. “Any time you get into a shootout with the police for no good reason and you take the life of a police officer, you shouldn’t see the light of day.”
Hampton pleaded guilty but mentally ill in May to dozens of counts, including murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm from or within a structure.
He previously faced the death penalty, but prosecutors agreed not to seek it in exchange for his plea.
Hampton fatally shot Thai in October 2022 as the 49-year-old officer responded to a report from Hampton’s wife that her husband was beating her, police have said.
When the officer approached Hampton’s car, the defendant refused to answer questions, grabbed an AK-47 from his passenger seat and fired 18 rounds, according to police.
Thai and Officer Ryan Gillihan returned fire, but Thai died an hour later at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, the Clark County coroner’s office said previously.
“All I ask is that (Hampton) never sees the light of day,” Gillihan told the judge.
Gillihan said Thai was a loving father, brother and son. He enjoyed sailing and coaching volleyball. He was also dedicated to policing.
“He spent most of his career training new officers and surrounding himself with new officers so he could mentor,” Gillihan said. “That was his passion.”
Thai, who joined Metro in 1999, was nearing the end of his career and could have switched to a day shift, but chose to work the graveyard shift and teach others, according to his colleague.
Thai was “robbed,” said Gillihan. And Gillihan’s life was altered.
“I can’t look at a blue Nissan without thinking about it,” he said. “I can’t hear a popping sound without thinking about it. I’ve had many nightmares. My coworker, my partner, brother and friend was taken that night because of his actions. It’s a constant thing that I think about and not a day goes by without it.”
Betsy Thai , the sister of the fallen officer, said her brother had a deep love for his family. His service, sacrifice and life mattered, she said.
“I cannot bring my brother back, but I can stand here and speak his name,” she said, sobbing.
Prosecutors played dramatic video of the shooting and asked for a life without parole prison sentence.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Portz said Hampton attacked the promise that police will help those in danger.
“Officer Thai came to help,” he said. “Tyson Hampton murdered him for it.”
Portz noted that Hampton was also being sentenced for the attempted murder of four people, including Gillihan, a woman Hampton shot in the leg and the woman who officers had come to help.
That woman, Hampton’s wife Vanessa Gonzalez , told the judge that her husband had wanted to be a police officer and was a good person who made mistakes.
“He’s not a monster, as much as they want him to be,” she said.
Hampton made a brief statement: “I’m sorry.”
Defense attorney Lance Maningo , who offered condolences to Thai’s family and fellow officers, asked for his client to receive the possibility of parole, citing Hampton’s youth, mental illness and difficult childhood.
“But for mental illness and specifically, Tyson’s mental illness, Officer Thai would be alive and Tyson wouldn’t be found in the situation he’s in,” he said. “When someone has a bad brain, they just act differently. They do things that can’t be understood.”
A doctor said Hampton was suffering from an untreated psychotic disorder and was likely confused at the time of the crime, he noted, and another doctor said Hampton displayed symptoms of schizophrenia.
Maningo asked the judge to recommend treatment while Hampton is in prison, including housing in a mental health unit and schizophrenia medication.
Jones recommended that Hampton receiving counseling and continue his treatment and medications.
The sentence allows for Hampton to theoretically receive treatment, though the state does not currently fund adequate mental health treatment, defense attorney Robert Langford said after court.
“It is essentially, I think, a fair and just sentence that recognizes the need for punishment in a community that is still grieving,” Langford said.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
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