Man armed with sword arrested after barricade incident in south Las Vegas
A man with a samurai sword was arrested after barricading himself with an elderly woman in a south valley home early Monday morning, Las Vegas police said.
The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Christian Lopez, Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Michael Rodriguez said.
Crisis negotiators worked for about eight hours to coax him out of his home near East Silverado Ranch Boulevard and Gilespie Street, Rodriguez said.
The man’s father called police about 12:15 a.m. He, along with the man’s mother and a daughter, safely left the house in the 9000 block of Rusty Creek Street, Metro Lt. David Gordon said.
The elderly woman was able to leave the home about 7 a.m. after officers worked to evacuate her. It’s unknown why she didn’t leave with other family members, police said.
Gordon said he wasn’t sure where the man got the sword.
Police helped the family members out of the home before he threatened officers.
“The adult son who was armed with a sword came toward the officers with the sword pointed at the officers,” Gordon said.
Officers then began treating the call like a barricade situation, with street closures and a SWAT response. They offered neighbors in about nine or 10 houses the chance to leave their homes and take shelter elsewhere, but nobody accepted, Gordon said. There were no injuries, he said.
Lopez is being held at the Clark County Detention Center and has been charged with two counts of assault on protected persons with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting a public officer with a deadly weapon.
Reporters Rachel Hershkovitz and Rio Lacanlale contributed to this article. Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.
