Las Vegas man killed by police, was it justified or not?

Dan Unger on the left, and Patrick Heki, on the right. (Photo: Unger Family/8 News Now)

Troubled Las Vegas man killed by police

LAS VEGAS — Patrick Heki, the Las Vegas man killed by police early Saturday morning at the Mountain Vista Apartment complex on the eastern part of the valley near Boulder Highway and East Twain Avenue was obviously troubled, and not thinking clearly when he walked out of an apartment with weapons.

The short version is that Heki, 26, lived with his parents who had called police because their son was suicidal.

Police arrived, Heki came out of the apartment with weapons, ignored commands from police and was shot and killed.

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Police say that there is evidence that Heki fired shots before police arrived.

Of course, there’s more to the story.

The suspects father, Dan Unger, described a different version of events to 8 News Now.

He says that his son suffered from depression after shooting himself in the face two years ago.

He also says that when his son walked out of the apartment that he had a pistol in his hand and two rifles strapped to his body.

He claimed that his son was not pointing the weapons at police and said the way the weapons were strapped were responsible for the direction of the weapons.  He said,

When he went down, he leaned forward, the two rifles are pointing because it’s on his shoulders, on his straps. Away from triggers, his hands are still above his head. He got about that height and they lit him up.

The elder Unger also told 8 News Now that he believed the entire scenario was a cry for help on his sons part who wanted to help his father get back into the movie business.

Dan Unger claims to have heard 40 or 50 shots fired and plans to take legal action.

Police officers are faced with life and death decisions daily and have to quickly be able to think and act.

Although there is no doubt the man killed by police had issues, could the situation have been solved without resorting to deadly force?

Could officers have aimed for his legs, or another body part, instead of pumping numerous rounds into Heki?

Las Vegas police have a reputation for using excessive force and the high number of shootings was even noticed by the Justice department.

Last year in June, Metro revised their use of force rules and provided additional training to officers.

More information will be released by police one they conduct an investigation and the officers involved will likely be placed on paid leave.

The Clark Counter Coroner has identified the dead man as Patrick Michael Heki.

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