Customer survived gunshot wound to shoulder in incident three days before end of Nevada Covid mask mandate
A convenience store clerk who killed himself minutes after shooting a customer who refused to wear a mask and walked out without paying for three bags of chips would have faced criminal charges if he had survived, a police report said.
The 6 February shootings on the north-west edge of Las Vegas came four days before Governor Steve Sisolak lifted Nevada’s Covid-19 mask mandate.
The 36-year-old cashier at the Terrible’s gas station and store was pronounced dead at the scene due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.
The 26-year-old customer’s ex-girlfriend took him to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder, police said.
Officers interviewed him and a witness corroborated his account of the incident.
Police were called to West Centennial Center Boulevard near US Highway 95 at about 8.30am on 6 February.
Detectives recovered the Glock handgun used in both shootings and four shell casings and reviewed surveillance video before filing the report on 9 February.
“Due to the facts and circumstances learned at the time of the incident, [the clerk] would have been charged if he survived with battery with [use of a deadly weapon],” the report said.
KLAS-TV first reported the incident the Associated Press obtained a redacted copy of the police report through a public records request.
Police say the clerk yelled at the customer to put on a mask or leave the store but he refused and placed three bags of chips on the counter. The clerk refused to serve the man, who walked outside with the chips without paying.
The clerk followed him and started recording him with his cellphone camera. The customer became upset, advanced toward the clerk and “a struggle quickly ensued”.
“Once the physical fight was broken up”, the clerk pulled a handgun from his pocket and fired three times at the victim, striking him once in the shoulder, the report said.
The victim ran to a tire store and was picked up by his ex-girlfriend in a van. The clerk made a call on his cellphone and argued with someone on the line. Moments later he fired one round to the right side of his head, police said.
A police officer wrote in the report that when he arrived, the man was still holding the handgun and cellphone, lying on his back with no pulse and blood coming from his head.
The 6 February shootings on the north-west edge of Las Vegas came four days before Governor Steve Sisolak lifted Nevada’s Covid-19 mask mandate.
The 36-year-old cashier at the Terrible’s gas station and store was pronounced dead at the scene due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.
The 26-year-old customer’s ex-girlfriend took him to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder, police said.
Officers interviewed him and a witness corroborated his account of the incident.
Police were called to West Centennial Center Boulevard near US Highway 95 at about 8.30am on 6 February.
Detectives recovered the Glock handgun used in both shootings and four shell casings and reviewed surveillance video before filing the report on 9 February.
“Due to the facts and circumstances learned at the time of the incident, [the clerk] would have been charged if he survived with battery with [use of a deadly weapon],” the report said.
KLAS-TV first reported the incident the Associated Press obtained a redacted copy of the police report through a public records request.
Police say the clerk yelled at the customer to put on a mask or leave the store but he refused and placed three bags of chips on the counter. The clerk refused to serve the man, who walked outside with the chips without paying.
The clerk followed him and started recording him with his cellphone camera. The customer became upset, advanced toward the clerk and “a struggle quickly ensued”.
“Once the physical fight was broken up”, the clerk pulled a handgun from his pocket and fired three times at the victim, striking him once in the shoulder, the report said.
The victim ran to a tire store and was picked up by his ex-girlfriend in a van. The clerk made a call on his cellphone and argued with someone on the line. Moments later he fired one round to the right side of his head, police said.
A police officer wrote in the report that when he arrived, the man was still holding the handgun and cellphone, lying on his back with no pulse and blood coming from his head.