Long standoff ends; hostage taker arrested

Jen Lawson and Mary Manning

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004 | 10:59 a.m.

A tense, 10-hour standoff with a man whom Metro Police said took his neighbor hostage ended this morning as officers stormed the apartment near Paradise Road and Harmon Avenue.

Police took Gregory Grant, 46, into custody about 7:30 a.m. The hostage, Grant's neighbor, had been chained or tied up when police rescued him, but he not hurt, police said.

Capt. Jim Dillon of Metro's South Central Area Command said the hostage was "excited" to be out of the apartment.

"He was in very good spirits," Dillon said. "You can only imagine what he was thinking and feeling."

The victim had returned home from work about 9 p.m. Wednesday and had a brief conversation with Grant outside his apartment at the Sandpiper complex on Naples Drive, Dillon said. They didn't know each other well.

As the neighbor was walking away, Grant grabbed him and, after a brief struggle, used a knife to force him into his apartment. Then Grant called 911.

"He said things like, 'I have a hostage' and 'I have explosives in the apartment,' " Officer Jose Montoya, police spokesman, said.

Crisis intervention officers spoke to Grant by phone, Montoya said, before more than 50 officers descended on the apartment complex, including SWAT officers, police dogs and bomb specialists from Nellis Air Force Base.

Although standoffs in which people barricade themselves in their homes with weapons is not uncommon in Las Vegas, it is rather unusual for a person to actually take a hostage, Dillon said. Keeping the hostage from harm is paramount.

About 7:30 a.m. police used a "flash bang" device to distract Grant, then burst into the apartment. Police found a device that Grant created that was meant to look like a bomb, but it was fake.

Grant was taken to University Medical Center to be treated for a cut on his face. H will be booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of kidnapping with a deadly weapon and manufacturing a fake explosive device.

Police are still trying to figure out why Grant did this. Dillon said he was "ranting and raving" about various things throughout the night and seemed delusional.

"We think he's mentally challenged," Montoya said. "He thought the police department and the police in the complex were after him."

This isn't the first time Grant has been in this situation, Dillon said. Several years ago he was involved in a standoff with Henderson Police.

Wednesday night about 20 residents of the complex were evacuated from their apartments.

Some of the residents knew Grant vaguely and others said he needed medications to keep from becoming agitated. However, police could not confirm if Grant was on any medication or had been diagnosed with a mental illness.

Grant was often spotted walking his two husky dogs and pretty much kept to himself, neighbors said. He wore a green Army jacket even in summer, but Dillon said he has no military record.

His apartment was always quiet, neighbor Arturo Vazquez said. Not even the dogs barked.

At night he often peered into the neighborhood, which is bordered by nightclubs and a strip mall, using binoculars, Vazquez said.

"One night a couple months ago, (Grant) said, 'Arturo, I may not see the morning sun,' " Vazquez said. "I told him to go home and get some sleep."

Vazquez, an electrical engineer at New York-New York, said he learned from police that Grant was holding his friend hostage. Police have not released the victim's name.

Vazquez noticed that Grant's girlfriend had moved out in September and that he was trying to give away one of the huskies.

Another neighbor, named Rick, who declined to give his last name, said he lived opposite the man's apartment.

"He went to the hospital for a month about three months ago. He used to stand on the curb and gaze at his girlfriend's apartment."