Southeast Vegas barricade situation ends peacefully when suspect surrenders
A barricade situation in the southeast valley that began Sunday night ended peacefully early Monday morning when a man surrendered after hours of negotiations.
Metropolitan Police Department Lt. David Gordon confirmed that the suspect, a man in his 50s who is on probation, threatened to blow up the house instead of going back to prison. He was in police custody around 1:15 a.m.
Police were called to a house in the 4200 block of Chirr Lane near East Twain Avenue and Boulder Highway at about 7:20 p.m. Sunday. The parents of the suspect called the police on their son, who had returned home near the time of the call.
Their son was a wanted suspect in a gun theft from the home on Saturday, Gordon said. The parents left the house, he said, but the man refused to leave. Police talked to the man over the phone and tried to persuade him to leave. He “adamantly refused,” Gordon said, adding he wasn’t going back to prison and at one point threatening to blow up the house.
Police wanted to evacuate about 15 homes, in the neighborhood, Gordon said, and most residents complied.
“We always take any threat seriously,” Gordon said. “Fortunately, he didn’t follow through on those threats.”
Etoya Williams, a neighbor who said she lives on Chirr Lane, said police told her and others to leave their homes about 10 p.m. as officers tried to coax the man out of the home.
Williams said police had been trying to get the man out of the home for an hour or two before the evacuation request. Williams said police told her somebody was threatening to blow up a house.
She was sitting in her car with her family near East Viking Road and Florrie Avenue as they waited out the situation.
“This is like the most action on this block,” Williams said. “Period.”
Before evacuating, Williams said she heard police on a bullhorn talking to her neighbor but didn’t hear the neighbor make any threats.
She said police had offered nearby Chaparral High School as a temporary refuge while police negotiated with the neighbor.
Three bangs could be heard from the neighborhood about 12:45 a.m. Gordon wouldn’t comment on the bangs.
“What I can tell you is there were no shots fired by us or by suspects,” Gordon said.
Police were letting locals return to their homes if they were close to the edge of the Florrie and Viking police barricade boundary about 12:40 a.m.
Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.