A standoff with Las Vegas police ends when man shoots self

An hourslong standoff between a man and Las Vegas police ended when the man fatally shot himself Saturday evening, authorities said.

A woman called the police Saturday morning to report that her son was acting violently and threatened her with a gun, the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement. Officers arrived just before 11 a.m. to the 3200 block of Sandy Lane and Irwin Avenue, north of Las Vegas Boulevard North and Cheyenne Avenue.

Crisis negotiators spent nearly five hours trying to convince the man to surrender, police said.

When the first officers arrived to the residence, police say, the man left the residence and fired two bullets from a handgun into the sky. He fired three more bullets after hopping a fence into a backyard, police said.

While in the backyard, he sat on a couch with a gun pointed to his head, police said.

Metro Capt. Nichole Splinter said the man continued to point the gun at his head despite negotiators’ efforts to persuade him to surrender peacefully. As SWAT deployed “less-than-lethal techniques” to separate him from the gun, he shot himself, Splinter said during a media briefing. The fatal shooting occurred at about 6 p.m.

Police did not release the man’s name Saturday. That information will come from the Clark County coroner’s office.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.