A dramatic Las Vegas police body cam video shows an officer firing a gun through his own windshield during a chase with murder suspects. You can watch the video below as it appears on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s YouTube channel:
Here’s a shorter version of the same video, which shows the police officer briefly take his hands off the steering wheel of his squad car to shoot at the fleeing vehicle through his own windshield. “Shots fired! Shots fired!” the officer says into his police radio during the chase.
The Las Vegas Review Journal identified the officer who fired as Officer William Umana and named the suspects as Fidel Miranda, 22, and Rene Nunez, 30. Miranda died in the incident. One squad car was struck by bullets, police said. According to the Review Journal, Umana, 43, “fired 11 shots through his windshield and seven shots through his open window.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Vegas Police Say the Video Only Shows the End of the Chase, During Which Suspects Fired at Officers 34 Times
The caption with the chase video reads, “LVMPD officers in pursuit of two murder suspects are fired at 34 times. This body worn camera footage shows the end of the chase during which officers, numerous motorists, and the public at large were in extreme danger.”
Police say the incident started with a shooting at a local car wash.
According to a press release from the Las Vegas Police Department, On July 11, 2018 at approximately 7:24 a.m. LVMPD patrol officers “responded to a shooting that occurred at 1402 North Eastern Avenue. The details of the call indicated a subject at a car wash was shot multiple times by a Hispanic male adult suspect and he fled the area in a large black Ford Expedition with large tires driven by another Hispanic male adult.”
The Review Journal identified the car wash victim as 25-year-old Thomas Romero.
Then, at about 9:30 a.m., in the area of 29th Street and Constantine Avenue, a downtown area Command Patrol Investigations detective “observed a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle involved in the earlier shooting incident. When detectives attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver fled at a high rate of speed and officers initiated a vehicle pursuit. During the course of a lengthy pursuit, the suspects shot at officers several times and one officer returned fire.”
According to police, the pursuit ended in the area of Ogden Avenue and 18th Street, “when the vehicle collided into the wall of an elementary school. The suspects attempted to flee on foot and one of the suspects was shot and killed on scene. The other suspect made it on to the school grounds and was taken into custody without further incident. Preliminary investigation indicates two officers fired their weapons during the course of the incident. It was later that investigators learned that the victim from the early morning’s incident succumbed to his injuries at University Medical Center.”
Police added in the news release: “This is the 10th officer involved shooting of 2018.”
Poster Comment:
For the record: I don't have a problem with what this cop did.
According to the Review Journal, Umana, 43, “fired 11 shots through his windshield ------
Where did this cop Get the idea that he could fire through his windshield, and hit a car 10/20 yards ahead? --- Is this some new Hollywood movie technique?
Where did this cop Get the idea that he could fire through his windshield, and hit a car 10/20 yards ahead? ---
Cops are people from the general populace. Most have never fired a weapon prior to the academy, never hunted, never hand loaded ammo... never took the initiative to seek out an old, outdated ballistic vest and shot the fucker up with every kind of cartridge... just so THEY KNEW, what kind of protection the vest affords. They get the badge, the chicks and the ego. Blaze away like on TV.
Had they tested different calibers, in different types of media... then they would know just how formidable laminated glass (windshield) can be.
Then again... in a firefight, under stress... you fly on repetitive training alone. Fight or flight.
There have been any number of situations where LEOs have fired through the windshield of the vehicle they were driving. As evidence to support this, I need only point the where a Louisville police officer shot through the windscreen of the car he was driving, killing an armed robbery suspect. ----- gatlin
grandisland ---- Had they tested different calibers, in different types of media... then they would know just how formidable laminated glass (windshield) can be.
Gatlin seems to think windshields are no big deal to fire thru, accurately.
I think they are, depending on angles, type of bullet, wind speed outside the car, range, etc. --- the bullets could be deflected a lot.. Or a little.
To me, the way the cop in the chase video was firing, -- he could have been spraying lead over a 50 yard area.. -------------------- I'd bet few of any rounds hit the perps vehicle...
Where did this cop Get the idea that he could fire through his windshield [of a moving vehicle], and hit a car 10/20 yards ahead? --- Is this some new Hollywood movie technique?
I merely showed you this procedure is definitely nothing new and it absolutely is not some new Hollywood movie technique.
That is all I did.
Furthermore, in no way did I indicate I “think” it is “no big deal”.
You definitely have a procacity to misinterpret what you read....by “presumptively inferring” into what you read, that which you already want to believe.
At #4, gat posted a number of indicators “thinking" it is “no big deal” to shoot at fleeing suspects through police car windshields. IE: -----
Oh, you silly, ---- of course the cops KNOW there is deflection [through testing, but not considerable as you say and it can be compensated for] when they fire through the windshield. That is why they are trained, including videos, in doing this.
I replied, --- Gatlin seems to think windshields are no big deal to fire thru, accurately.
Well, it may not be a big deal to silly guys like gatlin, --- but I think it's a stupid/dangerous way to spray lead over public roads..
