LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Nevada Highway Patrol is identifying a 32-year-old trooper who escaped serious injury even though his badge was damaged by a bullet during a shootout that killed a fleeing gunman last week in Las Vegas.
The trooper, Shawn Peckham, a three-year department veteran, was placed on paid leave following the early Friday morning shooting on Boulder Highway south of U.S. 95.
The slain gunman was later identified as 41-year-old Matthew Gibbon. The Clark County coroner says his hometown wasn’t determined.
A Nevada Department of Public Safety spokeswoman says a 9mm handgun was recovered after the shooting, which came after Peckham pulled over a white Cadillac sedan with three people inside.
Officials said the female driver and male passenger stayed in the vehicle when the other passenger ran.
Neither was injured during the shooting. Both were later questioned. Neither was arrested.
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