LAS VEGAS — A veteran Las Vegas police officer was wounded by a high-powered rifle and two suspects were injured and arrested after a backyard prowler call, a pre-dawn shootout and a door-to-door search, authorities said Friday.
The wounded officer and a suspect believed to be in his 20s who was bitten by a police dog were hospitalized after the exchange of gunfire, which happened about 4 a.m. at a home about 5 miles west of downtown Las Vegas, Sgt. John Sheahan said.
The injured officer, a married father and 14-year police veteran, was taken to surgery at University Medical Center with a wound to the upper leg, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. He was expected to recover.
The unnamed suspect was being treated for head and arm injuries, Sheahan said. His condition wasn’t immediately made public.
Officers locked down a wide area including homes and stores in a commercial corridor of Rainbow Boulevard south of the U.S. 95 freeway for a door-to-door search using police dogs, SWAT and patrol officers, and a helicopter. The cordon snarled the morning commute for many in the northwest part of the city.
The cordon was lifted about 7:30 a.m. after a man in his 20s was found with a leg injury in a commercial center and arrested, Sheahan said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the man’s injury was a gunshot, dog bite or other wound, Sheahan said. He was also being treated at UMC.
Sheahan said police were investigating whether a third person fled as police arrived for the initial call.
A 911 call about 3:45 a.m. reported two prowlers in the backyard of a home, Sheahan said. The people inside feared a home invasion and heard a knock on the front door before police arrived.
Sheahan said arriving officers exchanged gunfire with two armed suspects, and police later recovered “more than one” weapon, including an assault-style rifle.
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