Las Vegas police arrest man in connection with suspicious package
Las Vegas police arrested one person on suspicion of possessing or manufacturing an explosive device Friday night, hours after police responded to a call of a family member needing help.
Officers were first dispatched to the assistance call at about 11:20 a.m. in the 4600 block of West Oakey Boulevard, near Interstate 15.
They learned of what police later described only as a “suspicious package” inside a storage unit not far away in the 1900 block of Oakey Boulevard. There, the officers found an unspecified package inside a U-Haul storage unit, according to a Metropolitan Police Department statement.
A male suspect was arrested just before 7 p.m. in the 4600 block of West Oakey Boulevard, Metro Lt. Ken Nogle confirmed Friday night. He was charged with possession or manufacture of explosive device, Las Vegas police said.
The surrounding area had been evacuated for much of the day as a precaution after the report, according to the statement.
Nogle confirmed in a news briefing late Friday afternoon that there were “no imminent threats to anybody in the area, and detectives are investigating the scene.”
In response to a question about what specific device was found, Nogle said, “Our policy does not allow us to divulge what type of suspicious device was located. We can just say it was suspicious.”
He also noted that the investigation was still in its early stages and that police couldn’t yet say whether what officers found are real devices.
About a dozen U-Haul employees stood at the corner of El Parque Avenue and Hauck Street, across from their workplace earlier Friday afternoon, hours into what police said was a precautionary evacuation following a report of a “suspicious package” Friday morning.
All roads closed in the area have been reopened, the department said Friday evening.
No additional information was immediately available.
Contact Dalton LaFerney at dlaferney@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0288. Follow @daltonlaferney on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Katelyn Newberg contributed to this report.