Man arrested after false bomb threat
A man walked into Arizona Charlie's Saturday morning claiming to have a bomb around his chest, prompting an evacuation of the Boulder Highway casino for several hours.
The man, who was not identified, apparently wanted to commit "suicide by cop," according to Las Vegas police. The bomb was not real, and he was taken into custody unharmed.
Sgt. John Sheahan said the man, described as a white man with gray hair, walked into the Arizona Charlie's at 4575 Boulder Highway, at Twain Avenue, about 9:40 a.m. He walked up to the security podium in the casino and lifted his shirt in front of a female security guard. She saw what appeared to be a bomb around his chest.
"He says, 'You've got five minutes to evacuate Arizona Charlie's before I blow this thing up,' " Sheahan said.
Security guards at the casino convinced him to go outside and evacuated the hotel-casino.
Officers placed the man in handcuffs on the north side of the property. When they saw the device around his chest they backed away. SWAT officers and the Las Vegas Fire Department's bomb squad arrived and surrounded the man, Sheahan said.
Negotiators with SWAT talked to the man, who appeared to want to be shot by police, Sheahan said.
"He kept saying, 'Shoot me or I'm going to blow this thing up,' " Sheahan said.
Negotiators learned the device wasn't real, and they convinced the man to give himself up about 11:45 a.m. The device was removed and found to be a fake. Sheahan did not immediately know what charges the man was arrested on. He could face federal charges, he said.
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower
at lmower@reviewjournal.com
or 702-383-0440.
