This wasn’t a movie scene. It happened right here in Henderson.
Early on the morning of January 4, police got a call from a construction site near North Water Street.
A security guard saw something alarming on camera. A man had jumped a fence and was trying to steal a front loader.
Not tools or scrap metal; a 39,000-pound machine.
A man stole a front loader from a Henderson construction site, led police on a very slow-speed chase, and then tried to run over two police vehicles. It did not turn out well for him. ( Henderson PD) pic.twitter.com/0ulVmNznX4
— Las Vegas Locally (@LasVegasLocally) January 9, 2026
According to the Henderson Police Department, the suspect, Juan Rincon Carreno, threatened the guard with a screwdriver when she tried to stop him.
She told 911 it was her first day working that site and that the man said he’d kill her if she didn’t back away.
Carreno then got the front loader started, crashed through a fence, and drove it into the street.
This went from criminal to dangerous fast. He was careening a 39,000-pound weapon on wheels towards a neighborhood.
When Officer Megan Jacobs arrived, she gave clear commands to stop. Carreno didn’t listen. He drove straight toward her patrol vehicle.
“He’s coming right at my patrol vehicle,” Jacobs said on her body camera.
Video shows the machine advancing again and again as Jacobs tried to create distance.
When it became clear the loader wasn’t stopping, she fired her weapon. Carreno kept coming.
Moments later, Sergeant Lance Jaworski arrived. Police say Carreno turned the front loader toward him and rammed two patrol vehicles with the bucket. Jaworski fired as well.
The loader finally became stuck on the police SUVs, ending the immediate threat.
Officers repeatedly ordered Carreno to get out, speaking in both English and Spanish.
He refused. Officers climbed onto the machine to pull him out.
During the struggle, two officers and Carreno fell about seven feet to the ground.
The officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital. They’re expected to recover.
Carreno was shot in the arm and leg and also taken to a hospital with non life threatening injuries.
Carreno now faces serious charges, including two counts of attempted murder, resisting an officer with a deadly weapon, grand larceny of a motor vehicle, and multiple property damage charges.
Police said Carreno was carrying a shoebox filled with writings that included suicidal thoughts.
For Nevadans, especially families living near fast-growing neighborhoods like Cadence, this should be a wake-up call.
Unmanned construction sites are easy targets. When things go wrong – really wrong – police don’t have the luxury of time.
Thanks to fast action, no neighbors were hurt. No homes were hit. No one was killed.
That didn’t happen just by sheer luck.
It was possible because officers acted fast, before a dangerous situation turned into a tragedy.
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