The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Las Vegas police officer appeared in court Friday morning.
In the brief appearance, Tyson Shawn Jordan Hampton, 24, was ordered held without bail.
Hampton was arrested several blocks away shortly after the shooting that killed Officer Truong Thai early Thursday not far from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, authorities said.
“The tragic part about this is [that] from the evidence, this defendant was being investigated for a misdemeanor,” District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters. “That’s why it’s a sad day. It didn’t have to happen. This officer didn’t have to lose his life.”
Hampton made an initial court appearance Friday before a hearing master who found probable cause to keep him jailed without bail pending arraignment Tuesday on eight felony charges including murder and attempted murder. He also faces a misdemeanor domestic battery count.
Hampton, of Las Vegas, was temporarily represented by a deputy public defender and did not speak in court. He is expected to have an attorney appointed to his defense on Tuesday. He is being held at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas.
Wolfson said Hampton’s girlfriend and her mother summoned police, and Thai and another officer responded at about 1 a.m. Thursday several blocks east of the Las Vegas Strip.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Thursday that both officers fired shots during the exchange.
The other officer has not been identified. He was placed on paid leave pending district attorney and departmental reviews of the shooting, the department said.
Thai, who was wearing a ballistic vest, was shot in the torso and died at a hospital, police said.
The Clark County coroner ruled Thai’s death a homicide.
The injured woman was not identified. Police said her wound was not life-threatening.
Records show that Hampton pleaded no contest in April 2021 in Las Vegas to a misdemeanor charge of displaying a weapon in a threatening manner during a domestic argument. A felony assault with a weapon charge was dismissed, and Hampton complied with court orders including probation and the surrender of a 9mm handgun.
Wolfson said Friday that witnesses in that case refused to cooperate.
In 23 years as a Las Vegas police officer, Thai, 49, served as a patrol and training officer, financial crimes investigator and firearms instructor, the department said.
