Suspect fired at officers, evidence shows

Karen Zekan

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 11:45 a.m.

Evidence collected at the scene indicates that a Las Vegas man fired as many as 10 rounds from a high-powered rifle at three Metro Police officers when they entered a northeast Las Vegas house to help the man's ex-wife move out.

Austin Sands, 53, remains jailed at the Clark County Detention Center on three counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of resisting arrest with a weapon. If convicted on all charges, he could face a minimum of seven years in prison with the possibility of probation.

Officers William Rader, 29, Thomas Stoll, 47, and Brett Whitmarsh, 32, are believed to have fired as many as 10 rounds in self-defense, Capt. Greg Jolley said. All three officers remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation being conducted by the department's homicide section.

Rader has been on the police force two years, Stoll for 2 1/2 years, and Whitmarsh for 1 1/2 years, according to Officer Steve Meriwether, Metro spokesman.

According to Sands' stepson, Craig Becherman, the couple's two-year-long divorce proceeding had officially been finalized last week.

What would escalate into a five-hour standoff with police started at 8:35 a.m. Monday when Sands' ex-wife requested officers' help so that she and her son could move property out of the house at 2651 San Marcos Court, near Pecos Road and Carey Avenue.

"The former wife told the assigned officer that Sands had a violent history and was in possession of two rifles," Jolley said, adding that Sands additionally had numerous outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

The information prompted the officer to request backup. Three other officers met at the house where police had responded in the past for domestic disputes. After receiving the woman's permission to enter the home, three of the officers knocked at the front door and a fourth covered the rear, Jolley said. When they received no answer, the officers used the ex-wife's key to enter.

Rader, Stoll and Whitmarsh were doing a room-by-room search to ensure that all inside were safe when they found Sands in the master bedroom.

"Sands was sitting in the corner with a rifle across his lap," Jolley said. The officers were trying to talk the man into putting the gun down when he "stood up and advanced on the officers, raising the rifle to his shoulder and aiming it at the officers."

Sands barricaded himself inside the bedroom after the gunfire, permitting the officers a chance to retreat to safety. Negotiators were requested, but were never able to get Sands to communicate with them. SWAT officers eventually entered the home at 1:45 p.m. and took Sands into custody.