An officer was shot in Las Vegas Monday night and authorities were responding to a second shooting, authorities said. The Metropolitan Police Department told CBS Las Vegas affiliate KLAS-TV the first officer was hit in the head at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino on the famed Vegas Strip. There was no word on the officer’s condition.
In addition, KLAS reported that there was an officer-involved shooting at the Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas. Police said officers fired on a suspect who’d fired a shot at the courthouse.
The suspect was hit several times, KLAS said, adding that there was no word on his condition, either.
The shootings happened as people were protesting the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but it wasn’t clear whether the shootings occurred at actual protest scenes.
Demonstrators have been rallying for days across the country over the death of George Floyd, who was seen on video pleading that he couldn’t breathe with a white police officer pressing his knee into his neck for several minutes before he stopped moving.
Police in Vegas said Monday that 338 people were arrested during three nights of demonstrations. Officers used tear gas and pepper balls to disperse crowds late Saturday downtown and Sunday on the Las Vegas Strip.
Police said suspects were jailed despite a local court policy calling for most people accused of misdemeanor crimes to receive court summonses instead of time behind bars to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
