Police body-camera video shows woman slash Vegas officer in head before she is shot and killed

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A woman who was killed by Las Vegas police investigating a domestic battery complaint last week slashed one officer in the head before she was shot by another officer, according to body-worn camera video aired for reporters on Monday.

Sandra Lopez-Ochoa, 25, wielded a kitchen knife with an overhand motion to wound the officer as he began to pull her by the wrist from a seat on a couch in an East Las Vegas apartment, according to the video and a description by Assistant Clark County Sheriff Sasha Larkin.

Officer Rudy Sacba fired five shots from his 9mm handgun, killing Lopez-Ochoa, Larkin said.

The injured male officer’s body camera video showed blood dripping from his eyebrow following the shooting. The officer’s name was not made public.

“Hey, are you good?” Sacba asks him.

“Yeah,” the officer replies. His camera shows blood on a blue surgical glove on his hand.

Larkin characterized the officer’s injury as “definitely more than superficial,” but said he was treated at a hospital, was recuperating at home, and is expected to be able to return to active police duty.

Sacba, 32, a police officer since 2021, is on paid leave pending department and district attorney investigations of the shooting.

Larkin said Lopez-Ochoa and her brother, whose name was not provided, each called police about 1 a.m. Friday. The brother told police that Lopez-Ochoa tried to choke him. Lopez-Ochoa, sitting on the couch, tells the officers that brother attacked her.

The incident was the second fatal shooting among five this year involving Las Vegas police, Larkin said. That compared with seven shootings at this time last year, including four fatal.