85-year-old robbed during Summerlin home invasion

Jen Lawson

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002 | 11:20 a.m.

An 85-year-old resident of Sun City Summerlin was robbed at gunpoint inside his home Thursday afternoon, Metro Police said.

Police this morning were searching for the two robbers, one of whom held the gun to the man's head.

The robbery was reported at 2:34 p.m. It occurred in the 2700 block of Faiss Drive in the senior citizen community, located off Lake Mead Drive.

The victim, Richard Hollister Sr. -- a retired engineer and salesman who moved to Las Vegas from Toledo, Ohio, six years ago -- said he had just played golf and was sitting down drinking a soda when he heard a knock on his front door.

"I opened the door and it was a fellow with a satchel in his hand," Hollister said during a phone interview this morning. The man had a clipboard and a badge, and said he wanted to talk to Hollister.

"I thought maybe it was someone who wanted to give me a prize. I thought someone would come around the corner and say 'You won a million dollars,' " he said.

Instead, the man nudged his way into Hollister's home with his clipboard. Once inside, the stranger pulled out a small handgun.

"He put the gun to my head and said 'I'll blow your brains out,"' Hollister said. "It didn't scare me, because the gun was so small I remember thinking that it couldn't hurt anything. That guy wasn't that abusive."

Another suspect went through the house looking for valuables. Hollister said they took a large vase containing $200 to $500 worth of change, about $100 in cash and Hollister said he handed over a $5 that he had in his pocket.

They also took some video equipment from his son's bedroom. Luckily, jewelry that belonged to his wife, who recently died, was in a safe place, Hollister said.

"The guy who went through the house didn't do a very good job," he said.

Sun City Summerlin has a 200-member volunteer security force that patrols the community 24 hours a day, said Liz Jacobs, a dispatcher for the security patrol. About 14,000 people live in the seniors-only community. The security patrol mostly handles calls dealing with nuisances, such as barking dogs.

She said some residents are now worried about their safety.

"There are those who are fearful," Jacobs said. "This could happen anywhere, and we have to be careful."

Hollister told police that the man who had the gun appeared to be 35 to 40 years old, was about five feet nine inches tall, weighed about 160 pounds, had black hair and wore glasses and dark pants. The other man had a heavy build, a long beard, looked dirty and was wearing a white sweatshirt and a dark hat, police said. Anyone with information about the robbery can call Secret Witness at 385-5555.