Explosive suicide attempt gets 6 years

Bill Gang And Kim Smith

Friday, Oct. 22, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

The man whose apparent suicide attempt blew apart a portion of a Las Vegas apartment complex was sentenced today to six years in prison.

Michael McGilbra was also ordered to pay $5,000 restitution for the damages caused by the Jan. 4 explosion.

McGilbra, who will be eligible for parole after serving two years, had pleaded guilty to a single felony charge in a deal that limited his potential prison time to no more than 2 to 6 years, although the crime carries a maximum penalty of 4 to 10 years.

If District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski had determined that the stiffer penalty was warranted, McGilbra could have backed out of the deal and gone to trial on the original two felonies and one gross misdemeanor.

Three children were cut by flying glass but not seriously injured when the northwest corner of the roof blasted off Building Five at La Fiesta Apartments, 1492 N. Lamb Blvd. McGilbra had been renting an apartment there with his girlfriend and two children.

"I'm sorry for what I did and I'm sorry for the kids who got injured," McGilbra, 40, said this morning in court. "I just wanted to kill myself and I didn't mean to hurt no one. I made a mistake doing the wrong thing."

McGilbra was attempting to commit suicide when he disconnected a natural gas line behind a stove and later lit a match to smoke a cigarette. The resulting blast tore the roof off his apartment and destroyed or damaged several other units.

McGilbra, who admitted the scenario to investigators, was treated only for second-degree burns.

The bulk of the evidence against McGilbra came from the defendant himself, who spoke from his hospital bed to city and federal investigators.

Special Agent Daniel Heenan of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms testified at a Justice Court preliminary hearing early this year that McGilbra initially said he had no idea what caused the explosion.

But the agent said that McGilbra admitted his culpability after being asked if his fingerprints would be found on a natural gas valve that had been disconnected behind a stove in his apartment.

Heenan and Las Vegas Fire Department Investigator Daniel Thomas testified that McGilbra said he tried to kill himself by opening the gas valve and inhaling the fumes, but that didn't work, although he fell asleep.

McGilbra admitted that when he awoke, he lit a cigarette with the intent of blowing himself up, the investigators continued.

While the resulting blast tore the roof off a building and destroyed or damaged several units, it didn't accomplish McGilbra's goal. He was hospitalized in the burn unit at University Medical Center for several days for treatment of second-degree facial burns.

Damage from the explosion was estimated at $500,000.