Las Vegas police fatally shoot man who held woman hostage

Las Vegas police said they shot and killed a man Monday after he held a woman hostage in a northeast valley home.

Capt. Nichole Splinter said police became involved early Monday when they learned that a man “was attempting to start trees and cars on fire” in northeast Las Vegas. An officer later encountered the man in the area of Nellis Boulevard and Gowan Road.

“The suspect took off running, and an officer took off in foot pursuit of the individual,” Splinter said. “He continued to pursue this individual on foot at which time the suspect reached into his waistband and pulled out a black handgun and turned and pointed it at our officer.”

Splinter said the officer then fired one round at the man but did not strike him. She said the man then fled to a residence in the Storeyville Manufactured Home Community at 3755 N. Nellis Blvd.

“There were multiple subjects inside,” Splinter said. “All of them came out except for a female who stated he would not allow her to leave. It appeared he was attempting to barricade inside of that mobile home.”

Splinter said the situation then was treated as a “hostage-rescue situation,” and a police SWAT team was called in. The SWAT team attempted to take the man into custody, but he would not surrender.

“They entered the mobile home and ended up confronting the still-armed suspect,” Splinter said. “A SWAT officer opened fire, striking the suspect, who then fell to the ground and was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Splinter said the hostage was rescued unharmed.

Police announced the first shooting at about 9:15 a.m. At that time, they said, they had no reports of injuries. By noon, police announced that they had killed the suspect, who has not been identified.

The officer-involved shootings caused traffic chaos in the northeast as police closed Nellis Boulevard at Gowan Road. Bystander David Reeves said he works at an auto lot on North Nellis Boulevard, and that early Monday, someone set a palm tree on fire in front of the lot.

“This morning I got notified by the police that somebody had done some damage to a trailer park down the street and had taken off running in this direction,” Reeves said. “The guy who was running from them this morning is the same guy who set my tree on fire.”

Police congregated in front of the Storeyville community for nearly three hours before announcing that the suspect had been killed. They said he was shot multiple times.

Splinter said this marked the 11th officer-involved shooting in the Metropolitan Police Department’s jurisdiction this year.

Anyone with information my contact Metro’s force investigation team at 702-828-8452. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.