right now from chopper 13 over the scene, as a suspect was taken into custody. and that suspect was just put into -- i believe that black & white there. we're going to zoom in on that. that's where the suspect was just put, into that vehicle. and about four cars up, it appears to be like a silver colored sedan, if i'm not mistaken, we'll pan up there. and that is the vehicle that appears to have been boxed in. and now officers are going through the trunk. >> rikki: and the retired metro lieutenant, randy sutton, has been with us for most of our coverage, actually, from the very beginning. randy, are you surprised at how quickly metro was able to get someone into cuffs? >> no, i'm really not surprised because this is -- this intensive manhunt is -- had an incredible amount of police support, and it's interesting they've got the suspect, who was

then they must have gotten information that this vehicle was involved, and somehow got out of the perimeter. so the chances are very -- are great that he either stole this vehicle or that they were able to gather information from some source that gave this vehicle description, and then these unmarked units were able to box him in and take him into custody. you can see, this is a really very interesting tactic that they utilize. by utilizing these unmarked vehicles. they didn't want an uniformed response because they wanted to get him into custody this way. this would be our -- the -- either the fugitive unit or criminal apprehension team. >> would this suggest to you that they had a tail on this guy? >> this would suggest that they

suspect was, and then located the vehicle. there may have been cell phone -- this may have been done through a cell phone. but they clearly identified this vehicle as a suspect vehicle, and were able to identify him and utilize this particular type of technique. whether or not there's another individual that's in custody, i can't see yet, but there may be. >> is there a possibility that they -- even though they located or maybe got information that led to this vehicle, that they left that perimeter up to maybe even give the suspect a false sense of security? >> they would not break down that perimeter until they have identified the suspect. >> rikki: and that's what's happening now. we've shown you some pictures of some more traffic being allowed, and police vehicles leaving the area over by the embassy suites, but again now we have -- it

been put into a police vehicle and another sitting on the curb. >> this doesn't surprise me, that there would be two people. it was probably the driver and then the suspect. i think the suspect is the guy who was already placed into the police car. >> i don't think the guy on the sidewalk there is in handcuffs, either. >> rikki: no. >> it doesn't look like it. >> and it doesn't seem like attention. >> there's a possibility that he may have been a hostage of. carjacked. >> that's a possibility, yes. >> the wounded officer -- they're not dragging our feet on giving you the name of the officer who was wounded earlier -- that information has not been passed along to us yet on an official basis. he was taken to umc minutes after the shooting. let's go to our action news reporter who was on the scene when the ambulance arrived at the hospital with the officer.

>> i talked to the officers and they told me he most likely did hear the news. he was hearing from the guys on scene, he was told there is a guy in custody and i didn't hear what his reaction was but i can assume that he is probably thrilled. his wife and son are with him. you can see that there's a couple officers. i'm told that they'll probably be here until he is released. most likely tonight. we don't have a time. also, just getting word that there's going to be another press conference here soon with the sheriff. i'm assuming we're going to get even more details than we already know about this guy who is in custody right now. but just taking it back a little bit earlier when we did talk to sheriff the last time, he was telling us basically what his feelings were when he first found out that one of his guys was shot, here's what he told us >> sorry about that. technical difficulties.

to head over to our team coverage with stephanie. she's been on the scene all day. las vegas boulevard, where this is all unfolding. stephanie? >> we're still out here at las vegas boulevard and serene. cars are going past rich mar towards las vegas boulevard but if you can take a look at those cars, there is a long line. there is a huge backup here. traffic really getting snarled here at also boulevard and serene. we have heard that they do have that suspect in custody, but it hasn't really changed much here you at the scene. there have been a few units that have left the scene but for the most part it looks exactly the same as it has all day. and they're remaining with a strong police presence over here in the area, still blocking off the area between serene and pebble on las vegas boulevard and serene and pebble on gillespie street, although a few officers have left and they've set up flares in some of those areas as it does get dark out

again, nothing has changed out here as far as the police presence. still a lot of metro officers, nhp officers still out here on the scene tonight. they are still standing strong out here, still diverting a lot of people. beware if you're entering the area, if you're driving around here, try to take an alternate route because it looks like there's still an active investigation taking place around here. live at las vegas boulevard and serene, channel 13 action news. >> rikki: we are now once again above the scene where the suspect was actually captured near southern highlands. randy, a pretty -- quite a distance away from the actual shooting location at embassy suites. you say they are breaking down the perimeter, though. >> this is going to be really interesting to determine what the dynamics were here, how he got into the vehicle and how he got away from the scene. there's apparently another

probably either the driver -- in fact, i'm going to guess that this other guy was the driver of this car. there's a really strong possibility here that this vehicle used in the getaway was not necessarily an accomplice was -- >> another crime victim. carjacking. >> on the top right panel there, randy, stephanie was saying she didn't see a lot of indication, at least from her -- from where she was, to indicate that police were letting this perimeter go, but would they stay in a -- in a situation like that, would they stay until they're certain they're able to gather all the evidence they need? >> well, when they determine that they can let the scene go, you'll see a mass exodus, because, believe me, they don't longer than they have to.

>> exactly. >> rikki: forensics, you say there's a lot of information, a lot of evidence that has to be actually still gathered at that scene, the actual crime scene. >> right. we don't know what the status is of the crime scene unit. they may -- they may have been kept out during the active search. but they would certainly be there, photographing, videography, evidence collection, and then they're also trying to trace this guy's footsteps to determine if he dumped any clothing items or any other evidence along the way.

locations, but we have all the distance between that has to be searched. tell us the questions that are on the detectives minds that they need to ask the suspect. >> well, the other guy that was taken -- that's at that scene, apparently was either a driver or a passenger. he's going to be an absolute wealth of information. though he's not in handcuffs so the chances are he's a victim. and if -- if he consciously gave a ride to this guy, knowing that he was a criminal, then he would probably be in handcuffs as well. the fact that he's not indicates more to me that he may be either somebody that didn't have the knowledge or he's a victim himself. but, in any event, they're going to be debriefing him and trying to determine, did he dump anything, throw anything out of the car, you know, if he actually was carjacked, that gun that he utilized is probably in the vehicle.

that has to be -- remember, this is about as serious of a crime as it gets. so they're not going to want to leave any stone unturned as far as a collection of any evidence that might be in that vehicle. so it's going to be photographed in place. it's going to be videotaped, and so it will be used for evidence later on when they prosecute this guy. >> as you can see from the video taken live on the ground, the roads that we looked at, traffic is beginning to flow down las vegas boulevard, past serene, but the suspect is in custody in southern highlands, which is some distance away. take a look at the search area. to give you some idea of how massive this manhunt has been, the las vegas boulevard was shut down from serene, actually, from pebble to rich mar at one point, it was actually extended, only to have the suspect actually captured across i-15, which is

screen, over on the southern highlands area, and as randy has been saying, somehow being able to get transportation, whether he carjacked this person or this was a person who was an acquaintance, but you say if that person was involved in any way, shape or form with the suspect, he would have been in handcuffs. >> probably. probably. now, you know, really what this shows us is all of the behind the scenes investigative work that was being done and we're all commenting on the scene and what appears to be the search of the scene, this shows you the amazing amount of detective work that was being done at exactly the same time. and the fugitive tracking officers, the detectives of the units that know how to go after those folks. >> this is another reason we feel very fortunate to have you here as our crime and safety expert, because you keep us from going too far off the reservation when it comes to speculating on what might be

know, part of the whole breaking news coverage process that we love to do here is to, you know, keep information flowing and keep a story developing, but a lot of times there are lulls in this and, you know, we get an education from you when it comes to police work like this. >> also, you know, it's a pleasure to do this because the amazing work that gets done by metro sometimes does not get the attention of the public because they -- you know, metro isn't going to sit here and say, here, this is what we're doing. it's good to be able to decipher, if you will, and to have a little opportunity to tell the public exactly how good the police are. >> rikki: look at how thoroughly this search is being done of this vehicle. it's still there, still blocked in. as you said, there's an amazing amount of detective work that went into finding this vehicle and tracking it some distance away.

since the shooting happened just moments ago. i think we've got stephanie, who is also live, where the area is being opened up on las vegas boulevard near serene, if we can go to her now and she can give us an update, if she's ready, on what traffic is like in the area right now. are you standing by? >> traffic anywhere in the valley at this time of night can be a real bear but especially because these roads have been closed tonight, i want you to take a look behind me. the serene and las vegas boulevard intersection now back open. i'll see if my photographer can show you the long line of cars going through the intersection. it is a very busy intersection. some of this obviously because of the time of day and some of it because this area was closed for so long. people are finally able to get back into the area to go to their homes, some of these people who were stuck outside of the perimeter now able to go through or other people just going home. it's a very busy area. maybe if you can avoid it, i would still recommend that just

here. i think a lot of people are definitely relieved to be able to go back through this intersection, get back into their homes. this is a dense area. there's lots of different residential buildings of all sorts, condos, apartments, extended stay motel type places, lots of different people live in this area. and now they're going to be able to get back into this area, drive their cars through, and get back home tonight. live near las vegas boulevard and serene, channel 13 action news. >> can you stay with us for a second? have you got any word from your scene yet on when metro might try to give us another briefing and sort of connect some of these dots for us? >> all we've heard is that sheriff lombardo wants to be the one to give out the new information, so as soon as he does that at the hospital, they'll be able to answer our questions right here. so we're just waiting for the sheriff before they can give us additional information about here. >> rikki: thank you very much, stephanie, on the scene all day

asking our producer, do we have gina standing by at hospital? she's waiting for the sheriff to come out and give us the official word. randy, your take on this. investigation? >> i think it shows remarkable police work. it shows what happens when -- the teamwork that goes into policing coalesces. it doesn't get much more dramatic than when a police officer is shot in the line of duty. our las vegas valley has seen the death of way too many police officers. and they have -- this community is a very, very strong supporter of law enforcement. we're very lucky to have that. at the same time, when something this dramatic takes place, you see all the resources put into place that the law enforcement has.

demonstration of how, when you put forth all those efforts, how it can -- the outcome can be reached at such a -- actually, a fairly quick basis. >> we know you practice a lot for this kind of thing but what will happen later? will this entire afternoon be reviewed and critiqued and look at ways that the process can be improved? >> absolutely. metro is a police agency that critiques these critical incidents, and it's an important thing to do because as much as we saw from our vantage points, i guarantee you that there was -- that there were many opportunities that they could have seen improvement in what actually took place. everything can always be improved. >> rikki: let's recap from the very beginning. this is the shooting that happened just after 11:00 at the embassy suites over on las vegas

an officer, two officers were responding to a 9-1-1 call about a domestic disturbance. one got there first, it turns out he was confronted by a suspect who had nothing to do with the domestic violence call, and there was gunfire between those two. the suspect opened fire, according to the sheriff. the police officer responded and was wounded and we saw a demonstration from randy on how, even though they've got the protective gear on, there are some vulnerabilities. that officer was wounded armpit. was taken to umc. we'll check in with gina, who is waiting for the official word from the sheriff on what went down today. >> not too much new here. mode. we were told by a couple different people that the sheriff is supposed to be here to brief us and give us some information, but those metro officers didn't seem to think that that was the case. they thought it might be happening back down on las vegas boulevard.

is the one who wants to be the one to give the information to us, the new details, because it has been such a long drawn-out day with so much going on. we're still trying to lock down exactly when we're going to get these final confirmation details from the sheriff, so we're just standing by, lot of other news crews here. all waiting for the same thing. >> i think momentarily we're going to be able to put a picture up that we've received from a police source of the suspect, but what you're looking at right now is from just a few minutes ago, chopper 13 over the scene where the arrest was made. the suspect you see right there is the person that was taken into custody. there was another man, if you were watching, there was another man also sitting on the sidewalk who was not in handcuffs a few minutes after we saw this guy. that gentleman, randy suspects, since he was not in handcuffs, was possibly someone who didn't know that the suspect may have

possibly a crime victim, had been carjacked and was forced to drive this guy away from the scene. >> let's talk about this because during this entire ordeal, and that's what it's been, the suspect description has changed, the race of the suspect has changed, the conditions of the shooting have changed depending on different witnesses who have told us, even the one who we talked to on the phone, marie. how common is that in cases like this where the descriptions and the incidents and people -- the witness accounts are so different? >> it really is not unusual at all. in really volatile situations and violent situations that take place, witness testimony or witness statements are very often muddy, and you can literally interview three people that saw the same thing and you'll get three different stories, three different descriptions. >> let's put this up now. we got this in just now.

this is from a police source. >> that looks pretty much like the description. >> that would match the description that we had of someone mid thirties, with a shaved head or a bald head. we don't have the clothing but the clothing of the man who is being taken into custody is not the clothing description, but four, four and a half hours had passed, which would be a lot of time to change -- try to change your appearance. >> and if you're a suspect who is willing to confront a police officer and shoot them, i would think that you'd have a plan b this person was able to get -- not only leave the crime scene but getar enough, to southern highlands before being apprehended, shows maybe not planning but definitely some cunning. >> when an all this comes out in the wash here, i think we're going to find that, a, this guy has a very significant criminal history and, b, that the investigative work that was

taking place led police to the surveillance of that vehicle. and it was that -- they -- the fact that it was that far away could also mean that they simply were waiting for the proper moment. they may have identified this vehicle earlier on, but didn't want to take him down until they had everything properly set up, because what you saw was a textbook perfect take-down. >> rikki: and they had that car blked in so clearly they had been following the vehicle, they had their whole plan, strategy, stopped him right at the stop sign. so public safety is also a concern because you don't want to have now another shooting or another incident because you've got a frightened suspect who is trng to get away. >> exactly. and this could easily have turned into another officer-involved shooting when they took him into custody. >> on a timeline, just very quickly, do you suspect this is a previous booking photo? >> i do.

impossible to get that guy from that scene to this being a current booking photo? >> that's correct. >> let's go back to where this all began at 11:00, the latest on what we've been able to get from the scene of the shooting. are you there? we had a reporter set up on a phone line and we're having some problems. [dial tone] >> rikki: i think at this point we're all just -- we're all a little tired. i know that these fine men and women of law enforcement have to be exhausted. it's been a very emotional day for them as well, wanting to not only make sure that they have justice for their brother in arms but also to make sure that no one else, as randy has said, was injured in the secondary or third crime scene by someone who

seen just recently with what happens. when suspects are being pursued, they become more desperate. as you were saying, what you're looking at now, it was a successful attempt to make sure that didn't happen. >> and it was very successful. the fact that they were able to box him in, get him contained to the point where there was no -- it was either going to be a suicide by cop or you're going to surrender. it really reveals the excellent tactics that were utilized. also very, very dangerous tactics. keep in mind, he's already shot one police officer. they know he's armed. and yet, in order to take him down, they put themselves in harm's way in order to box him in and contain him. >> you can see how close those vehicles are together. >> right. they're inches apart. that was a tactical decision made by a tactical commander. now, it didn't have to go that way.

that they had a marked unit go to make a car stop on him that would also have been a possibility, but that could have led to a pursuit, that could have led to more deaths, and so they chose to use this particular tactic, which actually is more dangerous for them. this is in the name of public safety. >> rikki: all of those vehicles that were boxing him in, those were all unmarked vehicles. we didn't see marked vehicles come up until after the apprehension was made. >> exactly. and so this -- what this really demonstrates is the bravery that the police had in order to confront this armed suspect and take him down in the manner that they did, was tactically sound, but at the same time a dangerous situation nonetheless. >> let's go back now to action news anchor jacqui on a phone line with the latest on what's

shooting, where this all started earlier today, about six hours ago. >> i'm at the scene of the arrest, actually, looking at the vehicle that the suspect was in right now.

suspect vehicle in >> we watched the arrest unfold. >> you were saying the fact that they had the picture and got it to us indicates what you've been saying all afternoon. it was highly likely the suspect would have a lengthy criminal record because they have the mugshot on file. >> i would think he'll have a significant criminal history. it isn't your first rodeo when you shoot a police officer. >> criminals are teaching each other how to avoid pat-downs, how to take aim at officers. this is not something that folks are necessarily doing randomly. >> oh, no. there's -- prisons are especially noted for their own

it doesn't just happen in prisons. organized gangs, organized criminal gangs, have been training for years in how to defeat the police searches, how to counter law enforcement. it ps it's -- organized criminal enterprises know who the enemy is. the enemy is the american law enforcement officer. and as much training as a police officer gets, there are these criminal enterprises where they have more experience and more training. >> what is been going through your mind sitting with us and doing a great service to us and the community of getting the information out and describing what we've been looking at? how is this making you feel? >> well, the reality is i -- in 33 years as a law enforcement officer, i've buried a lot of police officers. when a police officer is shot, whether it takes place in las

heart is, or it takes place in any city in the country, my response is visceral. i feel a great deal of sympathy. i understand what the families are going through. and it's -- it's upsetting. >> as we stand by to hear from the sheriff with a full update on how this all unfolded, this began, if you're just tuning in, it began at about 11:00 this morning. an officer responding to a domestic call at the emerald suites goes up to the door, and apparently somebody not involved in the domestic whatever pulls a gun, takes aim at the officer and fires. the officer hit under the arm, just past the body armor, that protective vest. but the word from umc is that officer is going to be okay, up walking around and his wife and young son with him at umc.

been much, much worse.