KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasLas Vegas Police Shoot Kidnapping Suspect at Airport Checkpoint
Paramedics transport the 25-year-old suspect to UMC.(June 27) -- Two separate officer involved shootings occurred Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas within minutes of each other.
The first happened at McCarran International Airport near the A and B gates.
The second shooting on Tuesday afternoon took place in the northwest near Washington and Jones sometime after 4 p.m.
McCarran Airport officials say a man approached a woman with a child in a gift store located in an unsecured area of the airport just outside the A and B gates.
People ran for cover, as police shot at a man after he held a knife to a 3-year-old boy's throat. Police say the suspect abducted the boy and tried to make a run for it.
That was enough to free the child but the incident was far from over.
Two Metro police officers shot the suspect after he had crossed through the security checkpoint by running through an exit lane intended for passengers leaving the gates.
The man had been browsing alone in the store for three or four minutes before snatching the child as he and his mother played with toy cars near the back of the store, said Blanca Gomez, a Kid's Wear & Toys employee.
"I turned around, and saw him run. The lady, she was screaming, 'My baby, my baby!" Gomez said. "It was fast, it was scary."
Gomez, 23, said the child's mother did not appear to know the man.
The man ran about 20 yards, making it through the exit lane before being confronted by Metro officers at the other side of the checkpoint.
Metro Police Captain Terry Lesney said, "The suspect started to back away, officers tried to talk to him. He continued to back away. Officers felt there was an obvious threat to the child. They used their taser. They tased the suspect once. "
Captain Lesney continued, "The individual then gained motor control, started approaching the officers with the knife, each officer fire one round."
Paramedics rushed the suspect, who was shot twice, to the hospital.
Captain Lesney said, "Preliminarily, we don't believe there were any terrorist threats. Preliminarily, we don't believe there was any relationship between the child and the suspect."
The incident set off a security alarm at the airport. Operations at the A and B security checkpoints froze for about ten minutes.
McCarran Airport spokeswoman Rosemary Vassiliadis said, "This was not long enough for any delays of any aircraft, or any type of deplaning of our passengers."
Police said the child was not harmed and was returned to his mother. Neither she nor her child were identified.
The suspect was taken to University Medical Center. He is listed in critical condition.
Police did not identify the man. His motive still is unclear.
There are around forty Metro police officers patrolling different zones of the airport at any given time.
The A and B gates are used by Southwest Airlines, US Airways, America West and Champion Air, according to the airport's Web site.
Source: KLAS-TV and The Associated Press
