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Although it’s only a few days into the new year, Henderson has already experienced the first officer-involved shooting of 2026. Reports say the incident involved a driver who was in a stolen construction vehicle and two police officers who attempted to stop him. All three individuals ended up at nearby local hospitals, where they received treatment for non-life-threatening wounds.
The whole ordeal began at around 9:10 in the morning when Hendson Police Department’s Captain, Haven Tillmon, received a call regarding a stolen motor vehicle. Responding officers were dispatched to the Water Street area.
Upon arriving, the cops found a suspicious individual riding around on a front loader construction vehicle. Based on the phone call received at the station, the officers believed the individual had stolen the construction equipment from a nearby construction project site.
Officers attempted to get the suspect to pull over and stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to obey the officer’s commands. Things took an even more serious turn when the driver started to seemingly intentionally attempt to run over the officers more than once. The driver further escalated things when he slammed the construction vehicle into one of the police officer’s patrol cars on purpose. When the vehicle became lodged under the front loader, they feared the worst. At that point, both officers shot at the suspect.
The suspect was hit at least once in the arm and once in the leg. Officers helped the suspect get rushed to a local hospital, but it remains unclear how many times the suspect was shot. Both officers were also injured in the ordeal and received treatment at the hospital.
In Henderson and throughout Nevada, police officers are held to a very high standard when it comes to using deadly force. In general, a law enforcement agent is only authorized to shoot at a suspect when that person is posing an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury and where no other reasonable de-escalation is reasonable or possible.
Under this threshold, a suspect who is utilizing a vehicle or construction vehicle as a weapon or in a way that poses an imminent threat of serious injury or death could result in the legal use of comparable force by an officer.
Considering the severity of this use of force, it’s always wise to hire a qualified, experienced criminal defense attorney if you’ve been involved in an officer-related shooting. The right lawyer will ensure that your rights are respected and that you are treated fairly, even if you were in the process of committing a crime at the time of the shooting. If your attorney believes that you were unfairly harmed, then it might be possible to refute your charges on the basis of the use of excessive force by officers.
Here at LV Criminal Defense, our team of attorneys is prepared to fight for you. Schedule a free, confidential case review now by leaving your contact details on our online form.
