Caesars Palace standoff suspect calls situation ‘huge misunderstanding’
Days after he was arrested after a standoff with police at Caesars Palace, Matthew Mannix said he was not holding a woman hostage when he threw furniture out of a hotel room window and refused to come out for nearly six hours.
Mannix, 35, was arrested Tuesday on charges of kidnapping, coercion with force, destroying property, resisting an officer, disregarding personal safety and being a fugitive from another state.
“I had no intention of hurting her, taking her hostage,” Mannix said Friday in an interview from the Clark County Detention Center. “She wanted to be with me the whole time. She helped me barricade the door.”
Mannix said he found out last week that he was wanted on gun charges and flew to Las Vegas to start a new life. He said he met the woman he was with on the Strip, and they checked into Caesars on Monday.
In an arrest report from the Metropolitan Police Department, officers said Mannix threatened that he had ammunition and would hurt authorities.
The unidentified woman with him later told police that she feared he was going to throw her out the window after he smashed the glass and started throwing furniture down 21 floors.
“The damage was some of the most severe property damage that I have seen in my 18 years as a detective,” an officer wrote in the arrest the report.
Mannix said he lost $3,000 gambling on Sunday at a Las Vegas casino, and he feared people would hurt him, or find his family and friends.
“I knew there would be very mean people looking for me and wanting to hurt me,” he said. “This is why I created the insane situation at Caesars Palace, knowing I would be safe once taken into custody.”
Mannix said he has been receiving drugs to help him detox from the variety of substances he was using Tuesday. He said he is addicted to marijuana, ketamine, meth and fentanyl.
Mannix said that in 2017, he went to rehabilitation for drug use and received mental health treatment after threatening his parents.
News reports from Milford, Connecticut, said he was arrested on a charge of attempted larceny by extortion after sending threatening texts to his mother demanding money.
Milford police and Fairfield County courts could not provide further details this week, citing that the case had been closed for more than their 18-month window of maintaining records.
“This is just a huge misunderstanding,” Mannix said. “I didn’t take anybody hostage. I didn’t try to commit any crimes. I was just in a very bad situation.”
He is being held on $750,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court again Monday.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
