Couple’s arrest in standoff ends 3-week crime spree, police say

By Conor Shine

Friday, April 6, 2012 | 2:50 p.m.

Two people arrested Thursday after a standoff with police also have been implicated in a spree of other burglaries and thefts around the valley, according to arrest reports released Friday.

Christine Gulick, 38, and Devon Cooper, 33, both of Las Vegas, were arrested Thursday morning bookending an incident in which Cooper barricaded himself inside an apartment at a complex on Sandhill Road near Boulder Highway.

Both were wanted in connection with a series of crimes, including an attempted burglary on March 30 of a Kmart near Buffalo Drive and Washington Avenue in the northwest valley, police said.

According to the arrest report, Gulick and Cooper entered the store and began acting suspiciously, including putting items into their carts without looking at the price.

After a store manager began observing the two, Cooper left and pulled up in front of the store in a stolen gold colored Ford truck, the report said.

As Gulick attempted to leave the store without paying for merchandise, with an estimated value of $257, an employee grabbed the cart. Gulick then ran to the truck and Cooper drove away, according to the report.

The truck was located Sunday near downtown, police said.

Police reviewing security footage from the store were able to identify Cooper, who had recently been released from jail after posting bail for an arrest earlier in March.

In that incident, which occurred March 13, Cooper and another man agreed to meet a third party at the Stratosphere parking lot to buy an Apple computer that was advertised on Craigslist, according to court documents.

After putting the computer into the back of a Ford Focus registered to Gulick, Cooper refused to pay the seller and threatened him with a handgun, the arrest report said.

Several days later, the Focus was spotted in a neighborhood near the Stratosphere and police performed a traffic stop, according to the report.

Cooper, a passenger in the car, attempted to flee on foot from police, but was arrested nearby. Police also found a handgun discarded on top of some landscaping rocks along the route Cooper had taken, the report said.

After detectives were able to link Cooper and Gulick to the attempted K-Mart theft, they tried several times to apprehend the couple.

On Sunday, Cooper was believed to be the driver of a stolen motorcycle found near downtown Las Vegas, police said. Cooper had fled the area prior to an officer’s arrival. Gulick, a passenger on that motorcycle, was arrested on counts of possession of burglary tools and carrying a concealed weapon, police spokesman Bill Cassell said after the standoff Thursday.

Cooper evaded police again Monday as officers attempted to stop him in the northwest valley, where he was seen driving a stolen pickup truck, Cassell said. Officers chose not to pursue him when he fled that time, citing public-safety concerns.

On Tuesday, shortly after Gulick’s release, the hunt for Cooper moved to the northeast valley, where officers spotted him driving a stolen truck near Lake Mead Boulevard and Pecos Road, Cassell said. As officers attempted to stop Cooper, he rammed three patrol vehicles and fled, Cassell said. Officers were not injured.

Police eventually tracked the pair to the apartment complex near Boulder Highway, and began monitoring Cooper and Gulick early Thursday morning.

Gulick was apprehended outside the complex, but Cooper retreated into the apartment, prompting the three-hour SWAT standoff.

Gulick was booked into the Clark County Detention Center for conspiracy to commit burglary, attempted burglary and resisting a police officer.

Cooper was arrested on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, battery on a police officer with substantial bodily harm, evading a police officer, destruction of the property of another, conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery with a deadly weapon, police said.

He also faces charges in Las Vegas Justice Court of conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery with a deadly weapon relating to the March computer incident.

Cassell said Cooper had a long history of criminal activity, including convictions for possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, obstructing a police officer, and battery/domestic violence with a deadly weapon.

Gulick’s criminal history includes battery of a police officer with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and malicious destruction of private property, Cassell said.