MERCURY, Nev. (AP) - The Latest on an officer involved shooting at a nuclear security site north of Las Vegas (all times local):
10:45 a.m.
Authorities investigating an officer-involved shooting at a nuclear security site 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Las Vegas say the man who was killed refused orders to drop a cylindrical object in his hand.
It’s not immediately clear if the object was a weapon.
Nye County Sheriff’s Lt. David Boruchowitz said Tuesday investigators have not released any additional information since the trespasser was shot Monday evening after he failed to stop at the security gate at the Nevada National Security Site at Mercury.
Site spokesman Darwin Morgan says the unidentified man drove 8 miles (13 kilometers) with officers in pursuit before he parked and approached them. He says deputies and site officers fired at him when he approached and refused their verbal commands.
The state of Nevada is currently involved in a legal battle with the U.S. Energy Department to try to block the shipment of a metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium from South Carolina to the former U.S. nuclear proving grounds previously known as the Nevada Test Site.
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9:31 p.m.
Authorities shot and killed a man who entered a secured federal site north of Las Vegas where the government used to test nuclear bombs.
A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration says the man failed to stop at the security gate on Monday at the Nevada National Security Site. Darwin Morgan says the man drove for about 8 miles before he parked, got out of his car and approached security officials.
Nye County Sheriff’s deputies and nuclear site officers told the man to drop the object in his hand and stop approaching. Morgan says they shot him when he refused.
The man, whose identity has not yet been released, died at the scene.
The FBI has been notified.
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