Suspect in Pahrump incident arrested in Las Vegas

A 29-year-old man was arrested in Las Vegas on Friday in connection with Oct. 2 activities that resulted in the lockdown of one school and reports of guns at two others in Nye County.

Metropolitan Police Department officials arrested Duane A. Johnson on Friday morning, according to a release from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.

He will be extradited back to Nye County, the release said. Investigators will interview Johnson regarding his involvement in school issues that occurred on Oct. 2.

A release from the Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 2 said the incident in Pahrump, located 60 miles west of Las Vegas, began that morning when deputies spotted Johnson, a wanted felon, at Manse Elementary School. As they approached him, he ran into the school, prompting a lockdown there.

While they looked for Johnson, the Sheriff’s Office got a report of a man with a gun at Floyd Elementary, 15 miles away.

Deputies were investigating that call when another report came in of a man with a gun at Clarke Middle School, not far from Manse Elementary.

All three schools were searched, and the reports were determined to be unfounded. Johnson eluded authorities at the time.

The Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 2 said Johnson has “a violent past,” and Lt. David Boruchowitz said Johnson was wanted for battery with substantial bodily harm.

Boruchowitz also said there was no indication Johnson was involved in the false reports about the other schools.

The Pahrump incident occurred within hours of a gunman’s attack on a crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 58 people and wounding more than 500.