Woman shot by officers said she was ‘going to make the police shoot her,’ report says
After grabbing a kitchen knife, Shena Reiber told her mother during an argument that she was “going to make the police shoot her,” an arrest report alleges.
Amid a dispute with her mother that spiraled out into common area of a Henderson apartment complex, Reiber, reportedly wielding a knife, was shot and wounded by two police officers on Friday afternoon.
An arrest report released Tuesday by the Henderson Justice Court outlines the police allegations against Reiber, 33, who faces two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault on a protected person with use of a deadly weapon, court records show.
Reiber was taken from the Hampton Court complex at 1030 Center St., near East Warm Springs Road and East Lake Mead Parkway, to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. According to the report, doctors described her injuries as nonlife-threatening.
‘Still an open case’
A spokesperson for the Henderson Police Department said both Monday and Tuesday in emails that there was no update to provide but indicated on Tuesday that she was alive.
“As this is still an open case, there is nothing further to provide,” the spokesperson said Tuesday.
Reached by phone, Reiber’s mother declined to comment, other than to say that her family has no update on Shena Reiber’s status. She said that authorities are withholding information from her but declined to comment further.
According to the report, Reiber’s mother, who is identified in the report as Evon Reiber-Nava, told police what transpired before Shena was in the confrontation with police.
Reiber-Nava told officers that her daughter left the apartment with a knife after a dispute between Reiber-Nava and Reiber.
Her daughter was “obviously” intoxicated, Reiber-Nava told police. Reiber is also “prescribed medication for her mental health,” the report said, but no specifics were provided.
“Evon further stated that when she informed Shena that police were on their way, Shena stated that she was going to make the police shoot her,” according to the report.
The report said that Henderson police dispatchers received a call at 4:33 p.m. Friday from a man who said that a knife-wielding daughter was threatening her mother during an argument they were having outside his building. He could see the daughter stabbing the stairs with the knife and yelling, “Kill me!”
‘Female continued to walk towards them’
When the officers got to the complex’s playground area, they saw a woman carrying a “large silver knife” in her right hand. She approached the officers and they began to yell at her to drop the knife. The woman kept walking toward them, the report said. The officers aimed their handguns at the woman.
The officers kept telling the woman to drop the knife, “but the female continued to walk towards them and even raised the knife pointing it in their direction,” the report said.
The officers started to back away, the report said, while still telling her to drop the knife. The woman kept approaching them. When she was about 15 feet away from the officers, she “raised the knife in their direction,” police alleged.
That’s when the officers, fearing for their safety, according to the report, shot the woman, who was identified as Reiber.
The report said that the officers arrived around 4:41 p.m. and reported the shots fired at around 4:42 p.m.
The officers were identified Sunday by Henderson police as Sgt. Anthony Sanchez-Martinez and officer Sarena Ulibarri. They have been placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy, police said.
Reiber “was struck by the bullets” and fell to the ground, the report said. It wasn’t clear how many times she was shot. The officers administered first aid until medical responders arrived and took Reiber to the hospital. A silver Cooking Light kitchen knife with an approximate 7-inch blade was found in the grass.
On Monday, about 50 people including Reiber-Nava attended an event billed as a community healing/prayer vigil at a community center in the complex.
Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.
