Las Vegas Police Offer No Explanation for Shooting Handcuffed Black Teenager in the Back

Metro is investigating the connection between a body found in the desert over the weekend and the deadly officer involved shooting that claimed the life of a teenager. Kyle Staheli's bullet-ridden, burned body was discovered in the desert over the weekend. The 18-year-old did have a connection with Swuave Lopez, who was shot and killed by police. Lopez was in handcuffs and shot in the back after he escaped from a police car and ran. On Saturday, two Metro detectives arrested 17-year-old Lopez and James Carter Junior in connection with the shooting death of Staheli. Las Vegas Metro Police won't say why detectives felt they had to shoot a handcuffed 17-year-old. Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy says Lopez was left in the front seat of a detective’s car. McCurdy adds that Lopez was able to get his handcuffed hands in front of his body, open the car door and run. "Once the suspect was in the car, the detective stepped to the back of his trunk to retrieve something for another detective, McCurdy explained. He adds the detective looked up to see Lopez running away and that's when Metro fired at him. Lopez's grandmother said, "he's supposed to be a suspect in a murder and they put him in a police car, but nobody watches him? Did they want him to run so they could kill him?"  Police said it could take weeks to determine whether two Las Vegas homicide detectives violated state law or departmental policy in the fatal shooting. In the last year, Metro has had 14 police shootings. Twelve were ruled justified, 2 were ruled excusable, none were considered criminal. [MORE] and [MORE]