Legacy police shooting suspect fired at campus monitors, authorities say

A man accused of prompting a police shooting Thursday at Legacy High School appears to have fired a gunshot at three campus hall monitors before attempting to take his own life, according to an arrest report in the case.

Jallel Jenkins-Harris, 21, is now charged with multiple felonies stemming from the episode at the North Las Vegas school on Deer Springs Way, near North Fifth Street.

A Metropolitan Police Department arrest report for Jenkins-Harris released Monday shows that North Las Vegas police were first called to a Target, 7090 N. Fifth St., for a report of a man concealing items in a black backpack. Officers arrived and were told by a loss prevention officer that the suspected thief was at a Starbucks located in the front of the business.

As officers approached, police said, the man jumped up, grabbed something out of his backpack and ran to the rear of the store.

“As officers were running towards Jallel, several employees and customers were running towards them saying, ‘he has a gun,’” police wrote in the report.

The man fled through the store’s rear doors and pointed a handgun at a police sergeant who was sitting in his patrol vehicle.

The suspect continued to flee and crossed Fifth Street into a residential neighborhood. Police later found a resident of the neighborhood who said he saw a man matching the description of the suspect from the Target in his backyard “holding something in his hand.” The man then heard a loud noise and found his sliding glass door shattered with a rock on the ground nearby, police said.

A Metro police helicopter pilot was participating in the search and soon saw the suspect at Legacy. The man, police said, “had just pointed a handgun at the school.”

Police said an officer soon encountered the suspect, and ordered him to stop walking and raise his hands. The officer then fired two rounds from a patrol rifle at the suspect. The rounds did not strike anyone.

“About 31 seconds later, Jallel, holding the firearm in his right hand, put the firearm to his head and fired one round,” police said. “Jallel immediately fell to the ground.”

Officers took him into custody and requested medical assistance.

“Jallel was missing a large portion of his jaw,” police said, adding that the man was taken to University Medical Center for treatment.

Police said they would later learn that three hall monitors were outside the main school building at Legacy during the pursuit. The monitors would later tell police they noticed a man at the north end of practice fields at the school and that the man “fired one shot towards them from about 60 to 100 yards away.”

The monitors were not injured.

“They feared for their life and retreated back inside the school,” police said.

Police later found a cartridge case in the area where the hall monitors said the man shot at them. Police also recovered the firearm the suspect used to shoot himself and learned that the weapon was stolen during a robbery near the Las Vegas Detention Center that same day.

Jenkins-Harris, police said, had been released from the city jail that morning.

Police said surveillance video from the Target also showed the suspect running through the store with a weapon in his hand.

Jenkins-Harris is charged with two counts of attempted murder, assault on a protected person, resisting a public officer, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, possession of stolen property, attempted home invasion, robbery and possession of a weapon on school grounds. A felony arraignment is scheduled for Jenkins-Harris in North Las Vegas Justice Court on Tuesday morning.

If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. Additionally, the Crisis Text Line is a free, national service available 24/7. Text HOME to 741741.

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.