Former dishwasher threatened to ‘shoot up’ Strip restaurant, police say
A former dishwasher for a restaurant at the Forum Shops at Caesars allegedly threatened to bomb the place and called the chef to say he was going to show up with firearms and “shoot up the business.”
Jonathan Bonilla, 31, was arrested on Saturday and booked into the county jail on suspicion of communicating a bomb threat to the RPM Italian eatery at 3500 S. Las Vegas Boulevard, the Metropolitan Police Department said in an arrest report.
Earlier that day, just after 1 p.m., a police detective got a call from a chef at the RPM about calls allegedly from Bonilla, an ex-employee who was terminated on May 8 for not showing up for work because he was in jail, police reported.
The caller stated he wanted to “blow up” the Strip restaurant and bring Glocks and AK-47 firearms “to shoot up the business,” based on the report.
“Lastly, Jonathan stated to (the victim) that he would end him and lastly go after his family,” the detective wrote.
The chef, who was not identified in the report, said Bonilla made the numerous intimidating phone calls starting at 12:13 p.m. and started by telling him he was upset over being fired from his dishwashing job three weeks before.
The caller “sounded very intoxicated at first slurring their words,” the chef said.
At one point, according to the chef, Bonilla said over and over “I’m on the block,” “I have a Glock” and “on the block, with a Glock” while, the chef added, “also frantically saying weird noises similar to (a) growl.”
The calls continued, where Bonilla repeatedly asked to reserve a VIP table for 14 patrons but started using profanity and would not give contact information, so the chef admonished him to stop calling and hung up, according to the report.
After the chef first called 911 for assistance, the operator connected him to the non-emergency line where he remained on hold for about 45 minutes, during which Bonilla made another call to the restaurant asking for him, based on the report.
Bonilla identified himself over the phone as the one fired and since he was only one at RPM who had been fired recently, police decided to arrest him, at his residence at the Manor Suites apartments at 7239 S. Las Vegas Boulevard, on suspicion of communicating a bomb threat.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 6 in Las Vegas Justice Count, court records show.
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.
