Man killed by officers while holding mother hostage was shot at 12 times, police say

The 32-year-old man killed by Las Vegas police Monday after holding his mother hostage was shot at a dozen times, according to a briefing by Assistant Sheriff Chris Darcy on Wednesday afternoon.

Police were investigating reports that Joshua Squires had been attempting to set cars on fire near the Storeyville Manufactured Home Community, 3755 N. Nellis Blvd., around 1:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., Darcy said. When officers returned to the scene at 7:11 a.m., Squires ran from police.

“Squires turned back and pointed at officer (Raul Cabrera),” Darcy said.

Cabrera, 28, fired one round but missed Squires, who then jumped a fence, Darcy said.

Squires barricaded himself in his mother’s home, Darcy said, and “wouldn’t allow her to leave and threatened to start a fire.”

SWAT officer Allyn Goodrich, 36, entered the mobile home after a short time later and fired 11 rounds at Squires when he was less than 10 feet from the man. Police later discovered that Squires was holding a Walther PPQ airsoft pistol.

The bright orange tip of the airsoft gun had been sawed off, Darcy said.

Squires died at the scene from gunshot wounds, the Clark County coroner’s office said. His death was ruled a homicide.

His mother and the other family members who made it out during the hostage situation were uninjured.

Darcy would not elaborate on any mental illness Squires may have suffered from but said in the ongoing investigation he “suspects we’ll find something.”

Toni Squires told the Review-Journal on Tuesday that her son was a paranoid schizophrenic who struggled with substance abuse for years. Paperwork had been filed to evict Squires from his mother’s mobile home effective Wednesday, Darcy said.

“Don’t give up on them,” Toni Squires said of people with mental health struggles. “They need your patience and need your support. I couldn’t help him because I didn’t have the knowledge to help him. He battled something I really didn’t know anything about.”

Squires said when her son entered the house after running from Cabrera, he paced back and forth while saying, “No. She’s my leverage. She’s my hostage,” to himself.

“I didn’t want him dead,” Toni Squires said. “He was my only son.”

Cabrera has been with Metro since 2016, while Goodrich has been with the department since 2007, police said. Both were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.