By Ken Ritter
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — A man opened fire Thursday and wounded a police officer responding to a nearby domestic dispute, sparking an hours-long manhunt in an area of high-rise condominiums, homes and businesses south of the Las Vegas Strip, authorities said.
Police are still seeking the shooter.
The gunfight happened a little before noon, and the Las Vegas patrol officer was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas for treatment of arm and chest wounds that weren’t believed to be life-threatening, said Sgt. Jeff Clark, a department spokeswoman. The officer wasn’t immediately identified.
Clark said the motive for the shooting wasn’t known, and it wasn’t immediately clear if the shooter exchanged words with the officer before opening fire.
The officer was hit in the arm and chest but returned fire, the police spokesman said. It wasn’t clear if the suspect was wounded.
“We’ve talked with the people in the domestic call,” Clark said. “It wasn’t related.”
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who was driving nearby at the time, told reporters he gave chase on foot when he saw a man matching a description of the assailant running from the area. The man disappeared after jumping a fence.
Police cordoned off a wide area around the apartment complex on Las Vegas Boulevard near Pebble Road and enlisted dogs, a helicopter and dozens of officers to search parking lots, apartment hallways and nearby vacant buildings. Streets in the area were closed and residents were told to remain indoors.
Clark said they were looking for a light-skinned black man with a bald head, white shirt and dark clothing including a black hooded sweatshirt.
The shooting was reminiscent of the February 2006 slaying of veteran Las Vegas police Sgt. Henry Prendes, who was ambushed by a man wielding an assault rifle as he responded to a domestic disturbance call at a home.
The assailant, Amir Rashid Crump, 21, was shot and killed by police after a standoff and a minutes-long gunbattle.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press