Las Vegas police officers who helped save a UNLV shooting victim speak out

LAS VEGAS (NBC) - For the first time, the Las Vegas police officers who helped save the life of a UNLV shooting victim are speaking out.

"My focus was on the building, and I remember Jake saying, stop stop stop stop stop," shared Ty Vesperas, LVMPD.

It happened within seconds. Uniformed officers flooding the UNLV campus on December 6 after reports of an active shooter.

And on duty that day, Metro Officers Ty Vesperas and Jacob Noriega.

"As we were pulling up to beam hall there was quite a few students and faculty coming out. We noticed the victim that had been shot. He was bleeding from his left arm," shared Jacob Noriega, LVMPD.

"He was applying the tourniquet, I was cover officer, watching, because we didn't know where the shooting was coming from, we didn't have rounds going off so we attended to him," said Vesperas.

The officers say the victim who does not want to be identified began losing consciousness.

That's when the officers picked him up, put him in the back of a patrol vehicle, and drove him out to Maryland Parkway where ambulances were waiting.

Their quick actions, applying pressure to the wound helped prevent further blood loss.

"We're not paramedics, were not firefighters, were not ems. But oftentimes were there first and have the opportunity to save a life," stated Sheriff Kevin McMahill.

And the department is well stocked in first aid equipment.

Thanks to donations from the Engelstad Foundation and Touro University, emergency medical training is now standard for officers.

Metro officers go through about 40 hours of tactical training every year. Ensuring those life-saving skills are ready when needed.

Practicing life saving skills they will need on the streets.

"We were heading there with the thought process of trying to find the shooter, and it just happened to be he came out right as we were arriving," shared Noriega.

"Maybe a minute after we got out and started tending to him again that's when the volleys went off between UPD," said Vesperas.

This isn't the first time either officer has applied a tourniquet while on the job. Training that becomes muscle memory. Protecting and serving the Southern Nevada community.