Men in standoffs in custody

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 12:08 p.m.

Two men were in custody this morning after Metro Police SWAT teams were called to two standoffs on different ends of Tropicana Avenue Tuesday morning.

Richard J. Dewey, 31, faces weapons charges after he refused to come out of his apartment near Tropicana and Hacienda avenues after police say he rammed his car into another car and then shot at the other car about 6:45 a.m.

Dewey had reportedly rammed the other car near Tropicana and Jones Boulevard before driving to his apartment complex, the Reserve at Spanish Trail, 5250 S. Rainbow Blvd., police said.

About 15 surrounding apartments were evacuated, and Rainbow was closed in front of the complex as SWAT negotiators tried to get Dewey to come out.

About 9:15 a.m. SWAT fired a canister of pepper spray into the apartment, then went inside.

"Once inside officers found that he had locked himself in a back room, and face-to-face negotiations started," department spokesman Officer Steve Meriwether said.

Finally at 2 p.m. Dewey surrendered, and police took him into custody, Meriwether said.

He was charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, discharging a fire arm from a vehicle, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest with a weapon.

On the southeast side of town SWAT was working another standoff involving a man who police say called a doctor's office and said he shot his wife.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m. police began evacuating residents in the area of Nellis Boulevard and Tropicana as negotiators tried to make contact with Raymond Gordon, 60, who was sitting on his back porch crying, police said.

Gordon, who had a handgun on the table next to him, had reportedly called his doctor's office and said he shot his wife, police said.

After unsuccessful negotiations the SWAT team entered the home and used rubber baton rounds, nonlethal bullets, to take Gordon into custody.

Gordon's wife, Lois Gordon, 55, was found dead in the master bedroom with a gunshot wound in the head, police said.

Raymond Gordon was taken to University Medical Center to be checked for any injuries from the baton rounds, and was then booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a charge of murder with a deadly weapon, police said.