By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- Nevada State Police released body camera and dash camera footage Tuesday from a June 10 shooting in which Trooper Dustin Dunbar fired on driver Sean Shirazi after Shirazi pinned him against a fire truck on Interstate 11 in Las Vegas.
- Passenger Corinne Barnes, 40, died later that day from a gunshot wound; Shirazi, 45, survived and now faces second-degree murder and several other charges.
- The shooting occurred near a crash scene in downtown Las Vegas after Shirazi allegedly drove through the area, struck a semi-truck, and used his vehicle to trap Dunbar.
- Nevada State Police Colonel Michael Edgell said an investigation by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Force Investigation Team found Shirazi’s vehicle posed an immediate danger to the trooper and the public.
- The case remains under investigation; Shirazi made a brief court appearance Tuesday and is being held without bail.
LAS VEGAS — Nevada State Police released new video Tuesday from a fatal officer-involved shooting last week on Interstate 11, showing the moments leading up to and following a confrontation in which a trooper was pinned against a fire truck before opening fire.
The footage depicts Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Dustin Dunbar and Trooper Donald Sanders confronting driver Sean Shirazi, 45, after police said he drove through an active crash scene in downtown Las Vegas on June 10, struck a semi-truck, and used his SUV to pin Dunbar against a parked fire truck. Dunbar fired five shots toward the vehicle’s driver’s side door, then fired an additional shot after he was freed. A passenger in Shirazi’s vehicle, identified as Corinne Barnes, 40, was struck and later died at a Las Vegas hospital.
Nevada State Police Colonel Michael Edgell told reporters that an investigation conducted by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Force Investigation Team determined the vehicle itself functioned as the weapon used in the assault on the trooper. Edgell said Shirazi later drove Barnes to a hospital, stopping briefly at a residence and calling a family member to say there was a dead person in his vehicle; he referred questions about that stop to Metro police.
According to Edgell, toxicology results showed methamphetamine and PCP in Shirazi’s system, and Shirazi told investigators he panicked when he saw police activity because he feared returning to prison. Edgell said Dunbar, a trooper since August 2012 with no prior officer-involved shootings, and the other troopers involved have been placed on administrative leave, a standard step following such incidents. Police did not release footage from Dunbar’s own body camera or the moments in which shots were fired, with Edgell citing the ongoing investigation.
Shirazi made a brief court appearance Tuesday, where Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Kristal Bradford appointed the public defender’s office to represent him. He faces charges including second-degree murder, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, and battery and assault against a first responder, and is being held without bail. Assistant District Attorney Alex Chen said previously that evidence supported escalating the charge from manslaughter, noting Shirazi had committed multiple felonies that caused another person’s death. The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.