By Spencer Levering, Noble Brigham
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to follow and signup for notifications!
LAS VEGAS — Nevada State Police unveiled new footage Tuesday from last week’s deadly police shooting on Interstate 11.
The video showed the moments leading up to and after Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Dustin Dunbar shot at Sean Shirazi, 45, and Corinne Barnes, 40, after police said Shirazi drove through a crash scene in downtown Las Vegas on June 10, clipped a semi-truck and used his vehicle to pin Dunbar to a fire truck.
| DOWNLOAD:What Cops Want in 2026 survey results
Barnes died later that day from a gunshot wound to her torso at the Dignity Health- St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Sahara Campus, at West Sahara Avenue and South Decatur Boulevard, police said.
Nevada State Police Colonel Michael Edgell told reporters Tuesday that an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Force Investigation Team found that Shirazi “used a vehicle in a manner that created an immediate threat to public safety and law enforcement personnel.”
“The vehicle itself became the weapon used during the assault on the trooper,” Edgell said during a press conference at the Nevada Highway Patrol’s Southern Command Headquarters in the central valley. The Highway Patrol is part of the Nevada State Police.
Before Shirazi transported Barnes to the hospital, Edgell said, he stopped at a residence and made a phone call to a family member. Edgell said Shirazi told the family member there was a dead person in his car.
Asked what residence Shirazi went to and who he called, Edgell referred reporters to Metro.
‘I’m gonna shoot you’
Dash camera and body camera footage from the incident showed Dunbar and trooper Donald Sanders interacting with the man police identified as Shirazi moments before the shooting.
Dash camera video from Sanders’ patrol car showed him attempting to drive through a jammed Fourth Street on-ramp onto I-11 when he encountered a black Toyota 4Runner blocking his path to enter the freeway. Edgell said Sanders was responding to assist Dunbar with a crash investigation.
Sirens blaring, the video shows a trooper repeatedly asking the SUV driver, later identified by police as Shirazi, through a speaker system to move out of his way. “Please move. People need my help. Please pull to the right,” the trooper can be heard saying.
The SUV then merges onto the freeway, and Sanders’ patrol car drives behind it before merging into the empty far-left lane, video shows.
Minutes later, the footage showed a car that appeared to be the same black SUV abruptly turn into the lane in front of Sanders’ patrol car. Edgell said Sanders then radioed Dunbar to notify him that the SUV was approaching the crash site.
As the SUV neared the crash, video showed a trooper identified by police as Dunbar appear to approach the car from the front on foot while aiming his firearm at the vehicle.
Body camera footage from Sanders shows him and Dunbar aim their firearms at the driver and tell him to lower the SUV’s windows and put the vehicle in park. The SUV’s windows roll all the way down before rolling back up, the video shows.
“I’m gonna shoot you,” a voice can be heard saying in Sanders’ body camera video just after the window rolled up.
Sanders’ footage appears to show him slap the SUV before pulling open the driver’s side door. Moments later, the video shows the vehicle moving forward, pinning Dunbar against a nearby fire truck that was blocking traffic.
Police said that’s when Dunbar fired five shots from his handgun toward the driver’s side door of Shirazi’s vehicle. Edgell said Dunbar later fired an extra shot toward Shirazi’s SUV after he was unpinned because he was “trying to stop him from hurting somebody else.”
Asked if troopers could have reacted differently to the situation, Edgell said, “I don’t believe so.”
“I don’t think there’s any other way around this when you’re standing there, giving somebody verbal commands to stop their vehicle and get out, because they were such a hazard and they could have hurt somebody,” Edgell said. “I think this is the best case scenario that could have happened here.”
Traffic camera footage from the Nevada Department of Transportation shows the black SUV driving into a sedan before driving northbound on I-11 .
Edgell said officers immediately began efforts to locate Shirazi’s vehicle, but could not do so until he crashed into the hospital, where Barnes later died. Shirazi told hospital staff that police had shot him, Edgell said.
Toxicology reports showed Shirazi had methamphetamine and PCP in his bloodstream, Edgell said. Shirazi admitted to snorting “a little” methamphetamine while stuck in traffic before getting on the freeway, according to his arrest report.
Shirazi told police he panicked upon seeing police activity because he was fearful of returning to prison, Edgell said. He added that Shirazi has an extensive criminal history in both California and Nevada.
Edgell said Dunbar has been with the Nevada State Police since August 2012 and had no prior officer-involved shooting incidents. He added that the troopers involved are doing well and have been placed on administrative leave.
All troopers involved were wearing body cameras, Edgell said, but Edgell did not show footage from Dunbar’s camera during the press conference. A Highway Patrol spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed question about why Dunbar’s footage was not shown.
Video shown to reporters did not include the moments when Dunbar fired his gun toward Shirazi’s vehicle. Asked why the video paused before shots were fired, Edgell referenced ongoing investigations related to the incident and said “these are the facts that we wanted to show at this time.”
Court appearance
Shirazi briefly appeared in court on Tuesday. He faces counts of second-degree murder, disobeying a police officer, resisting an officer, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and battery and assault against a first responder.
Court records indicate he is being held without bail.
Shirazi, who was in jail custody, confirmed in court that he had received a copy of the criminal complaint listing his charges.
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Kristal Bradford appointed the public defender’s office to represent him.
Chief Deputy Public Defender Robert O’Brien said he would reserve a bail hearing instead of arguing for Shirazi’s release immediately.
Shirazi initially faced a manslaughter charge, but prosecutors have said evidence justified the more severe murder charge.
“He basically created a situation of felony second-degree murder,” Assistant District Attorney Alex Chen said previously. “He was committing various felonies and caused the death of the other individual, so we saw there was evidence to charge.”
Trending
Contact Noble Brigham at reviewjournal.com..
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Company News
