The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is mourning the loss of veteran patrol officer Truong Thai.
Thai was fatally shot responding to a domestic disturbance call last week.
Police said 24-year-old Tyson Hampton shot Thai with an AK-47 pistol with bullets capable of piercing a bulletproof vest.
The shooting happened after a woman called to say she had been beaten, allegedly by Hampton.
Domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous for police. An FBI study found that from 2011 to 2020, 503 officers were killed nationwide. About 9% of those were during domestic violence calls. What makes them so dangerous?
With State of Nevada host Joe Schoenmann is Andrew Walsh, assistant sheriff for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
WARNING: The video below may not be appropriate for all audiences.
Walsh called Thai a good man who cared about his family. The “amazing thing about him is just the variety of assignments that he had,” he said, including firearm squad, training and patrol.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. But that awareness goes for people living in homes where, unfortunately, this is happening, but also for police.
Those types of calls are “heated to begin with,” Walsh said. “So we’re walking into the unknown.”
He said the parties involved are typically already stressed and frustrated, and “many times, that gets turned towards the officers.”
Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Thai was shot when he stopped a suspect’s vehicle on the early morning of Oct. 13. The suspect, 24-year-old Tyson Hampton, fired at both officers who fired back.
“A lot of times people do run away,” Walsh said. “They flee from us regularly. And we wind up in foot pursuits or vehicle pursuits, that happens a lot in the day-to-day activities of a police officer, but, you know, reaching back and firing at the officers and the citizens that are on the street is … not something we experience regularly.”
If you are in Nevada and are experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Click here for a full list of local resources.
Andrew Walsh, assistant sheriff, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
