Standoff near Sam’s Town ends, son in custody after fight with dad

A man is in custody after an hourslong standoff in a neighborhood near Sam’s Town.

Las Vegas police said Brian Ferguson, 31, got into an argument with his father, prompting a SWAT response. Police set up a barricade around the house in the 5200 block of Koa Avenue and evacuated nearby homes.

Metropolitan Police Department Lt. David Gordon said Ferguson took a can of gasoline and poured it around the house and on himself. He then turned on natural gas inside the house.

Police told neighbors to leave their homes. Police also reached out to Sam’s Town staff, which opened meeting rooms for neighbors to wait out the barricade. Gordon said he didn’t know how many homes were evacuated.

Tonya Burks, a woman who said she lived next door to the house where the standoff took place, said she was putting her kids to bed when her daughter alerted her to yelling and banging noises next door.

Within minutes, police directed Burks and her family to leave the house.

“I go outside, the cop was like, ‘Get back in the house. Now. Get back in the house,’ ” Burks said. “And three minutes later, she (said), ‘I need everybody to evacuate.’”

Burks said she hadn’t met her next-door neighbors and had never had issues with them.

Gordon said officers saw Ferguson had a handgun, but weren’t sure whether it was loaded or if he had threatened his father with the gun.

“There were certainly implied threats,” Gordon said, citing Ferguson pouring gasoline over himself and around the house.

Negotiators tried talking Ferguson out of the house with a bullhorn and had limited conversations over the phone.

Southwest Gas Corp. was called to shut off gas to the property, he said.

The father was able to leave the house unharmed, leaving Ferguson alone inside.

Police negotiated with Ferguson and the incident ended just after 11:45 p.m., nearly three hours after police were called. Ferguson was charged with fourth-degree attempt to commit arson and coercion with force or threat of force and booked into the Clark County Detention Center, Metro Lt. Larry Hadfield said.

Ferguson is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Review-Journal writer Jessica Terrones contributed to this report. Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter. Contact Jessica Terrones at jterrones@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find @JessATerrones on Twitter.