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Man arrested after bomb hoax at Arizona Charlie’s
Police: Man’s possible motive for incident was ‘suicide by cop’
Police clean up their equipment Saturday morning after responding to a man who claimed to have a bomb at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder Hotel and Casino. The bomb ended up being a hoax, police said.
Published Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 | 11:02 a.m.
Updated Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 | 12:42 p.m.
Map of Arizona Charlie's Boulder Hotel and Casino
Arizona Charlie's Boulder Hotel and Casino
4575 Boulder Highway, Las Vegas
A man’s claim that he was wearing an explosive device turned out to be a hoax this morning at Arizona Charlie's Boulder Hotel and Casino on Boulder Highway in the eastern Las Vegas Valley, police said.
Shortly after noon, a man making the claim had been arrested and Metro Police officers were returning the area around the casino back to normal, according to Sgt. John Sheahan, a Metro spokesman.
The casino, the hotel and the RV park were evacuated during the incident and Boulder Highway was closed in both directions in front of the casino. However, police reopened the highway shortly after noon and begin letting people back inside the casino complex.
The incident began about 9:30 a.m. when a man walked into the front door of the casino at 4575 Boulder Highway, went to the security desk and lifted his shirt, showing a security guard what he said was an explosive device, Sheahan said.
Security officers then called Metro and escorted the man out the north entrance of the casino, Sheahan said.
Metro officers handcuffed the man, then backed away until they could get help, he said.
The bomb squad, SWAT team and an armored unit responded to the scene, prepared to deal with the explosive device, Sheahan said.
However, they determined that the device the man was wearing was not explosive, but a hoax, and the man was taken into custody.
Police believe a possible motive was that the man was trying to commit "suicide by cop," because he had told an officer that he wanted the SWAT team to shoot him, Sheahan said.
Visitors in the casino were escorted out of the south end of the building by staff and security officers while police dealt with the man.
Barbara Recla, a Las Vegas resident who frequently visits the casino, was still standing outside the south wing of the casino at noon, waiting to be let back so she could redeem her food vouchers.
She said everyone was calm while they were told to leave, but “nobody could tell us what was going on.”
Casino staff made rounds distributing bottles of water to people waiting outside the building and some of the rooms that open directly to the parking lot were opened so that people could use the restrooms.
Discussion: 1 comments so far…
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Arizona Charlie's is a suspicious device!
The suspicious device was a full money clip he still had after walking out of Charlies'.
The suspicious device might have been his girlfriend. Just don't tell his wife.
It's Harry Reid's fault!
revbobdobbs: I hope you're kidding? Suspicious device? Hmmm? If they are talking to the suspect, I don't think it's bad. If it was, alarms would go off and cops would be everywhere.
The suspicious device was probably a surveillance camera that worked in Metro's presence.
all of you are suspicious devices............lol
I think he was a plant by Station Casinos to divert the business to Boulder Station. They can't stand competition.
It was a plant by Charlies,they can't stand customers.
Metro officers handcuffed the man, then backed away until they could get help, he said.>>>
This was a brave act - to escort this man and handcuff him with a device 12 inches away from the officer(s). Regardless if real or not, this act is worthy of significant recognition! I am serious...Oscar needs to be involved in this one.
Thank you Metro
Mr. Hansen, please get your facts correct: It was the Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Bomb Squad that responded to this incident. The City fire department has been the bomb squad for all of southern Nevada since 1974!
Metro doesn't have a bomb squad. Never did, although they certainly like to pretend they do. Maybe you can ask them about defuzing the device in City Hall the other day.....seems THAT was the work of Metro's "bomb squad", or as I like to refer to them, the "Uh-Oh Squad".
Don't make any furtive movements!! Video please!?!?
This is the second time this week we've been told "Suicide by Cop" is a possible motive. Maybe that reasoning explains Metro's high percentage of civilians killed.
twice the "suspect" wants to die, and clearly taunts LE, and they don't shoot?
i think we may be on to a way to actually survive a metro encounter?
Suicide by cop? Didn't apparently know where the nearest Costco was.
He had some nerve to think the police would shoot him because he wanted them to..They shoot when they feel like it..
If this guy wanted to commit suicide-all he needed to do was eat at The Imperial Palace Buffet.
Shykid..you're right..I ate there last year and I died 11 months ago..
[[["I think he was a plant by Station Casinos to divert the business to Boulder Station. They can't stand competition"]]].
I couldn't agree more, just like when Stations had imploded The Castaways after they purchased the property from Harrah's, after they purchased the Showboat before.
Guess they wanted to implode poor ol Arizona Charlie's East too upon the cheaper bankrupting way while having no stake in it.
I say bring back the old SHOWBOAT !!!!!
Boulder Station will have it tough to destroy also Sam's Town and Cannery East. They're strong and powerful and mean. Boulder Station just can't match with them. They made too many mistakes in the past. Even nasty techniques wouldn't work out there. Longterm Vegas citizens like Sam's Town, and even Cannery East is a nice property. Tough competition in a tumbling market right now...
Obama wanted to bring in a new country...... Well Look what HE has started.... Voted them all out.
envance, as an outsider, I can only comment your commment with this: The problems your country is exposed to are so big that they simply can't be solved within 1 year or so. The housing bubble and everything else is the result of one-sided politics with huge profits for very few people and therefore I wouldn't blame your president for not being fast enough in cleaning up the mess. It takes more than a motobike to win this race, my friend.
From Switzerland
DMFDRT--Where does it say who the bomb squad was or what name they use.... For all you know it could have been a trainee with the parks dept saying he saw a friend of his do this once,, kinda like you posting on here...
AKsilvereagle, are you sure Harrah's owned the The Showboat?
Doesn't seem to me they did, but if so, I will stand corrected.
Who knows maybe it was a ploy and a "set-up scene" to show or atleast try to that metro doesnt always shoot at will.Either way they need to tear down that whole area and rebuild it.
I seem to remember some article stating Harrah's was going to have some partial stake in the property as it was failing upon a temporaty bailout of purchasing the property or to some extent, as they were going to immediately transfer or sell the property once a buyer was lined up, however they did not own it 100 percent outright nor operated it.
I assumed that is what happened to the property just before The Castaways owners purchased it.
The guy in question was a known card counter. Apparently he was playing at a $3-$300 table. After ramping his bet up from $10 to $110, then doubling down and winning the hand, the casino had no choice but to call in a SWAT team to take care of him. Black chip action is not welcomed nor tolerated at this sawdust joint.
Check out my always insightful blog about LV:
http://jimmyhoofa-lv.blogspot.com/
The blame could be placed in a lot of places. Harry Reid and Sharon Angle, as well as Bush and Obama all come to mind. Of course it could also be Harrah's, 6/5 BJ or Paris Hilton or Wayne Newton's fault also. Could be Metro, Foreclosures, Californians, (that's me!) or the Arizona immigration law (Arizona Charlies, maybe the guy got confused).
The above have all been blamed for various things in posts where they really had no fault in the story at hand.
Maybe the guy was just driven over the edge for whatever reason.
Seriously, If the guy wanted attention with his fake bomb, one would think he'd pick a higher profile property.
Trust me , it was because of the 6:5 bjack!