LAS VEGAS: Officers were checking on a stolen cellphone that its owner traced to a car in Las Vegas when the suspect tried to flee and then opened fire, leading to a shootout that wounded an officer and left the gunman dead, authorities said.
It marked the 15th shooting involving Las Vegas officers so far this year, including seven since June 20. That is a sharp increase from the 10 shootings by police in all of 2016, including seven that were deadly.
The officer wounded in Tuesday’s gunbattle was hospitalized in stable condition with a wound to the abdomen after a bullet missed his ballistic vest, police Capt. Kelly McMahill said.
He was improving Wednesday and is expected to be released within the next few days, Officer Laura Meltzer said.
After the gunfire ended, a second officer realized that he had been hit but not injured, McMahill said during a recorded briefing Tuesday night.
“His gun belt actually stopped a bullet that was fired by the suspect,” she said.
The gunman was shot at least once by police and also had a self-inflicted gunshot wound, McMahill said. The coroner did not immediately identify the suspect, pending notification of family members.
The officers, who also have not been identified, were following up on a report from a man whose cellphones had been taken from a vehicle Sunday and he had traced to a pickup truck parked outside a business in an industrial area.
The suspect initially spoke with the officers, but then tried to start the truck at least twice before pulling a handgun and opening fire. McMahill didn’t say how many shots were fired.
A police sergeant arrived and drove the wounded officer to a hospital. Police said the bullet went through his abdomen and out his lower back.
The officers were put on paid leave pending reviews of the shooting by police and prosecutors.
The recent increase in officer-involved shootings comes five years after the department underwent a first-in-the-nation review by the US Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services. The voluntary review followed 25 police shootings in 2010. Federal investigators recommended 80 reforms and later credited the police department with adopting almost all of them.
An officer was last wounded on duty in Las Vegas in December 2015, when a veteran patrol officer was hit in the torso and arm while responding to a disturbance call at an apartment complex.
Officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo were the last officers killed on duty. They were shot to death while eating at a pizza shop in June 2014 by a man and a woman who later died during a shootout with officers at a Wal-Mart.
Vegas police shootout wounds officer, leaves suspect dead
Vegas police shootout wounds officer, leaves suspect dead
Palestinian woman hospitalized following seizure in US ICE detention
- Kordia, a 33-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman living in the US and whose mother is an American citizen, was detained by US immigration authorities early last year
WASHINGTON: A Palestinian woman, who lost dozens of family members in the Gaza war, has been hospitalized following a seizure in US immigration detention, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday.
On February 6, 2026, at about 8:45 p.m., “medical staff at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, notified ICE that detainee Leqaa Kordia was admitted to Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Burleson, Texas, for further evaluation following a seizure,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Kordia, a 33-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman living in the US and whose mother is an American citizen, was detained by US immigration authorities early last year.
She was detained during a meeting with immigration officials at the Newark Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office, where she was accompanied by her attorney. At the time of her detention last year, Kordia was in the process of securing legal residency.
In a weekend statement cited by media, her family and legal team said they have not received communication from US authorities about her health. The family could not immediately be reached for comment. DHS says ICE will ensure she receives proper medical care.
Rights groups have long reported on detainee complaints about conditions in ICE detention facilities, calling the conditions inhumane. The federal government has denied treating detainees inhumanely.
Amnesty International says 175 members of Kordia’s family have been killed during Israel’s assault on Gaza since late 2023 following an attack by militant group Hamas.
The Homeland Security Department says Kordia, who was raised in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was arrested for immigration violations related to overstaying her expired student visa. The DHS also says she was arrested by local authorities in 2024 during pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University that the department cast as being supportive of Hamas.
Kordia and other protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly equates criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Kordia has said she was targeted for pro-Palestinian activism and cast the conditions in her detention facility as “filthy, overcrowded and inhumane.”
President Donald Trump’s administration cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests by threatening to freeze federal funds for universities where protests occurred and by attempting to deport foreign protesters. It has faced legal obstacles while rights advocates say the crackdown hurts free speech and lacks due process.
