MERCURY, Nev. (AP) — Authorities investigating an officer-involved shooting at a nuclear security site 70 miles 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 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.