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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A rookie Las Vegas patrol officer who was grazed in the neck by a gunshot struggled over a handgun with a motorist who was shot and killed by another police officer, authorities said Monday.
The wounded officer was identified as Evan Hogue, and the veteran officer who fired the shots that killed James Michael Todora was identified as Brian Kroening.
The shooting happened about 9:30 a.m. Friday, after Hogue and Kroening stopped Todora driving a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee on busy Sahara Avenue several blocks west of the Las Vegas Strip, police said.
Todora, 54, got out of the vehicle and invited the officers to shoot him before getting back in the vehicle, reaching for a handgun and saying he was going to shoot himself, police said in a statement.
Hogue tried to retrieve the gun from Todora before he was wounded. That's when Kroening opened fire.
Todora died of multiple gunshots to the torso, the Clark County coroner said.
Hogue was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was treated for his injury and released, police said.
Hogue and Kroening were placed on paid leave pending reviews of the shooting by the district attorney and the department.
Hogue, 28, has been a police officer since last September. Kroening, 32, has more than eight years on the police force.
The shooting was the fourth involving a Las Vegas police officer in 2015 and the second one resulting in death.
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