Suspect dead in armed kidnapping of woman
An armed kidnapping began in the Las Vegas Valley late Saturday night and ended in Pahrump Sunday morning with the suspect dead.
According to the Nye County Sheriff’s office, a male suspect forced an unidentified female into her vehicle, brandishing a Glock .40-caliber pistol and firing into the air to threaten the distraught woman.
Las Vegas police notified Nye County authorities that the two were believed to be in the Pahrump area about 4 a.m. Sunday morning.
Deputies located the woman’s vehicle at a Best Western hotel at approximately 5:40 a.m., and Nye County’s SWAT and hostage negotiation teams were called to the scene, with Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo commanding tactical operations.
Guests in nearby hotel rooms were evacuated, and Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall tried several times to open negotiations with the suspect, who had barricaded the door to the hotel room, Nye County police said.
As the SWAT team began to enter the room, a single gunshot rang out. The suspect was found dead in the room with a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The woman was unharmed and turned over to Las Vegas police.
“I think in the history of the hotel, in 30 years, this is the first time something like this has ever happened,” hotel manager Laraine Harper told the Pahrump Valley Times.
Additional details were not available Sunday, because the multi-jurisdictional investigation was not finished.
Contact reporter Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and (702) 383-0381. Follow him on Twitter @WesJuhl.
