Charges added in Vegas police officer protest wounding case

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Prosecutors in Las Vegas have filed four more felony charges Thursday against a 20-year-old man accused of attempted murder in a shooting during a Las Vegas Strip protest that left a police officer wounded and paralyzed.

Edgar Samaniego’s newly hired attorney, John Turco, didn’t immediately respond to messages after a preliminary hearing of evidence was postponed to Aug. 27.

Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci said additional assault with a weapon and discharge of a firearm charges were added after investigators found evidence that Samaniego fired three shots, not two, late June 1 near the Circus Circus resort.

The protest was one of hundreds nationally following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

A judge who reviewed evidence at an earlier court hearing said police video showed Samaniego “walking by, taking out a gun and firing.”

Samaniego remains jailed on $1 million bail. He pleaded guilty June 22 in a separate misdemeanor drug case and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

The police officer, Shay Mikalonis, 29, was wounded in the head. He has been transferred to an out-of-state spinal injury rehabilitation center.

In a statement released by police, Mikalonis’ family said he remained paralyzed from the neck down, on a ventilator and unable to speak.