Man surrenders to end 4-hour central Las Vegas standoff with police

SWAT officers took a man armed with a knife into custody Monday morning, about four hours after he was seen dragging a woman into a central Las Vegas apartment.

The hourslong barricade began shortly after 3:55 a.m., when a resident of the Bay Bridge apartments, 5400 S. Maryland Parkway, called 911 to report that he had witnessed a woman being forced into a neighboring apartment, according to Metropolitan Police Department Lt. David Gordon.

The pair’s relationship wasn’t immediately clear, but Gordon said the barricade was domestic-related.

The 911 caller had just arrived home and was entering his unit when the woman, who appeared as if she had been crying, exited the neighboring apartment and tried entering the caller’s unit.

“She was seeking refuge, if you will,” Gordon said at the scene.

The armed man then exited the same apartment behind her, grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her back inside, according to Gordon.

When police arrived, it was quiet inside the apartment. Still, Gordon said, officers and crisis negotiators set up around the unit “due to the possible hostage situation” and began calling phone numbers listed for the man and woman.

In the meantime, residents of the complex were given the option to evacuate and sit inside an air conditioned bus, provided by the Regional Transportation Commission, while Metro worked to take the man into custody.

The man eventually answered the phone and “sounded agitated,” Gordon said. He would briefly speak to officers, refuse to exit the apartment and then hang up — an instance that was repeated several times before SWAT officers entered the apartment around 7 a.m.

Gordon said that by 7:10 a.m., SWAT had cleared the apartment, taken the man into custody and had gotten the woman to first responders, who treated her at the scene for minor head injuries. She declined to go to a hospital.

The man was taken to Metro’s headquarters, where he was being questioned as of about 8:30 a.m. Gordon said it wasn’t immediately clear what charges, if any, he will face.

Maryland Parkway was closed in both direction from East Russell Road to East Hacienda Avenue during the barricade but was expected to reopen by 9:30 a.m.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. Review-Journal staffer Marvin Clemons contributed to this report.