LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The annual Best of the Badge Gala honored Metro officers for their bravery in extraordinary circumstances at the Wynn on Friday night, including the first two officers who responded to the mass shooting at Las Vegas Athletic Club.
Now for the first time, the duo is sharing their story. The pair was at the right place at the right time twice within the last year to save lives.
Athletic Club shooting response
Officer Aaron Javier and Officer Skeeter Black were finishing up a call in an area they don’t normally patrol on May 16, 2025, when the call came over their radios reporting an active shooter at LVAC.
“Is he still inside?” Officer Black asked someone running from the gym as he arrived. Black then rushed to the back of his vehicle to put on his body armor to go in to confront the gunman.
“They were civilians scattering out… I had an older guy tell me someone was dying inside,” Black told FOX5.
The partners took cover behind the front pillars of the gym preparing to move in. Dispatch told them they had a report the shooter was coming out the front door.
“I can tell definitely that he was trying to make his way out. He looked at me a couple of times and at one point he lifted his rifle at me and that’s when I just discharged my rifle,” Javier said.
As glass shattered, the shooter ran out and was shot and killed by Black and a third officer.
“My men and women do not hesitate nor will they… If it wasn’t for the men and women in law enforcement, there would be a lot more people dead that day and I can’t say enough about the courage that it takes to run towards that gunfire,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill of LVMPD.
Bridge rescue
The duo also acted on November 15, 2024, when a woman was on the edge of an I-15 overpass. As Officer Black tried to pull the dangling woman to safety and Officer Javier stepped in.
“I told her to grab my hand, but she refused and she was just repeating that my life is over. Don’t want to live,” Javier said. “I can remember that Skeeter’s hand was giving out, so we had to make adjustments quick.”
The partners managed to get the woman back over the barrier, saving her life.
“I don’t know what she was going through, but I hope she was able to take this as a second chance and move forward with life,” Black said.
Metro shared the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 offers 24/7 confidential support for those in a mental crisis.
At the ceremony, Black and Javier were award both the Medal of Honor for saving the woman and the Medal of Valor for stopping the gym shooter.
Other officers were honored for their life-saving roles in the UNLV mass shooting, saving a woman and her two children from her ex-boyfriend in a hostage situation, and pulling a drunk driver from a burning car.
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