LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A woman armed with a box cutter was shot and hospitalized after confronting Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers during their lunch break early Friday morning, police announced in a press conference Monday.
Assistant Sheriff Dory Korn provided the updated details on the Aug. 28 shooting, which occurred in a parking lot in the 6300 block of West Charleston Boulevard, near Torrey Pines Drive. It marks Metro’s 11th officer-involved shooting of 2026 and the fifth non-fatal.
The suspect was identified as 26-year-old Catalina Alvarado. She remains in stable condition at a local hospital and faces multiple charges, including assault on a protected person with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest with a deadly weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, and two counts of injuring or tampering with a motor vehicle.
The officer who fired her weapon was identified as Delylah Donegan, 28, who has been with LVMPD since 2022 and is currently assigned to the Bolden Area Command.
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According to Officials, Officer Donegan and another officer were parked door-to-door in their patrol vehicles at approximately 5:16 a.m., taking a brief lunch break when Alvarado approached them.
Alvarado reportedly began yelling at the officers and banging on the patrol vehicles with her knife.
Officer Donegan quickly repositioned her vehicle to create space and stepped out to issue verbal commands for Alvarado to drop the weapon. Alvarado refused, continued striking Donegan’s vehicle, and at one point demanded that Donegan shoot her.
In an effort to de-escalate the situation, the secondary officer deployed a taser several times. Although the taser probes struck Alvarado’s clothing, they were ineffective.
According to officials, Alvarado then continued to advance toward Donegan with the box cutter, prompting Donegan to fire a single round from her Glock 19 handgun, striking the suspect.
Officers immediately took Alvarado into custody and rendered medical aid, applying chest seals and bandages before paramedics transported her to the hospital.
“Our officer responded to an individual who was armed with a knife, was acting aggressively towards those officers, and disobeying commands,” Korn said during the briefing. “The officers tried to de-escalate, even tried to use a low-lethal tool… It was ineffective in this particular situation, and the officer had to use the force that she felt was necessary at that moment.”
Korn noted that while LVMPD saw historic reductions in officer-involved shootings last year, 2026 has seen a significant increase. At this time last year, Metro had recorded four officer-involved shootings compared to 11 this year.
An investigation into the incident remains active.
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