The video shows a Las Vegas officer shooting a woman who “pointed the gun” at him

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Body-worn camera and aerial footage show a Las Vegas police officer shooting a woman after she “pointed an object” at him that he believed was a gun.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Sheriff Yasenia Yatomi provided additional details about the officer-involved shooting that began with a report of a suspicious vehicle during a news conference Wednesday.

Yatomi said police were called to the parking lot of a business in the 4900 block of South Fort Apache around 7:45 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18.

A person called 911 to report a person sleeping in a vehicle in a business parking lot for several hours. The reporting party provided dispatch with the vehicle’s registration number and described the vehicle – it was a white Lincoln Navigator, Yatomi said.

A check of the license plate number showed it had been reported stolen. Yatomi said the documents also show the person in the vehicle may be fleeing or armed and dangerous.

While officers were en route to the scene, they were told the vehicle had left the area and was last seen entering a gas station at 3900 West Flamingo Road. Officers arrived at the scene and found a vehicle matching the suspect’s description parked at a gas pump.

The woman in the vehicle was later identified as Lindsay Harris, 39.

Arriving patrol officers and the LVMPD aviation unit attempted to contact Harris, but she drove from the area. LVMPD’s aviation unit followed Harris as she drove and provided directions to patrol officers on the ground.

Harris drove to a neighborhood southwest of El Capitan Way and Flamingo Road, parking along the curb in the 4200 block of Quilting Bear Street before exiting the vehicle.

The aviation unit told officers it went to a residence in the 9000 block of Mountain Lakes Avenue “in an attempt to conceal its location from arriving officers,” Yatomi said.

Officer Xavier MacNeill, 26, arrived and saw Harris hiding behind a pillar near the door and ordered her to stop. Harris ignored his commands and ran west, with Officer MacNeill following her.

MacNeill has been employed with LVMPD since 2020 and is assigned to the Summerlin Area Command Community Safety Division. He has been placed on routine paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a review of the incident.

MacNeill radioed that he saw Harris reach into her purse while running after her, Yatomi said.

Harris stopped between two houses in the area and hid behind a “large bush,” Yatomi said. As MacNeill got closer, he saw Harris throw an “unknown object,” which was later identified as a cell phone.

MacNeill drew his gun and held Harris at gunpoint, continuing to shout commands in an attempt to get her to surrender.

In the warning video, MacNeill can be heard shouting: “Bring the (expletive) over here or I’ll shoot you in the (expletive) head.”

Harris remained behind the bushes and MacNeill said he saw her “pointing” an object at him that he believed was a gun, Yatomi said. MacNeill then fired the gun four times at Harris.

When additional units arrived, MacNeill told them that Harris had pointed a gun at him.

Harris then ran into the backyard of a nearby residence, jumping a fence in the 9000 block of Iron Crow Avenue, and barricaded herself in a shed. SWAT and crisis negotiators were called to the scene and took her into custody two hours later when she surrendered peacefully, Yatomi said.

Medical assistance was called, but police confirmed that Harris was not hit by the gunfire.

Yatomi said Harris has not been charged in connection with the incident. However, she was arrested for residential burglary and was additionally booked with five outstanding arrest warrants on charges of burglary, use/possession of a stun gun by a felon, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of burglary tools and possession of a dangerous weapon.

This incident is the twelfth LVMPD officer-involved shooting of 2024 and the fifth non-fatal shooting. In 2023, there were six officer-involved shootings, including two fatalities.

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