Police in Las Vegas have released body cam footage showing the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Thomas McEniry.
McEniry was shot on November 24 as he was reaching for a pellet gun after running from officers, Assistant Sheriff Kirk Primas said.
Police stopped the video just before officers opened fire on McEniry, killing him. Three officers fired, hitting McEniry multiple times, police said. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. The officers said the pellet gun looked like a real gun.
You can watch a press conference of Primas discussing the case and the video below:
The names of the officers involved in the shooting have not been released.
Primas said at about 1:59 a.m., police found a Mitubish Mirage rolling down the street, appearing to be unoccupied. After stopping the vehicle, officers said they saw a man who appeared to be the driver of the car, walking down the street. That is when the body cam video begins.
The officer tried to talk to McEniry, Primas said, but “he did not comply with the officer’s verbal commands and he ran into a small enclosure,” within the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex.
“McEniry ignored repeated commands to show his hands which were positioned behind his back. As other patrol officers arrived at the enclosure, one officer deployed an Electronic Control Device (Taser) and McEniry fell to the ground. The Taser was ineffective and allowed McEniry to lunge toward a firearm that had fallen from his person onto the ground near him,” Primas said. McEniry was then shot.
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Thomas McEniry. (Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada)
McEniry had a lengthy criminal record, police said, and had recently stopped taking medication for mental health issues and was using drugs.
He had been able to hold a job and was turning his life around before stopping taking the prescription medication, Primas told reporters.
The shooting is the 12th officer-involved shooting by Las Vegas police this year. It is under investigation.