Published Friday, July 20, 2012 | 12:22 p.m.
Updated Friday, July 20, 2012 | 6:43 p.m.
Standoff
A Metro Police SWAT unit used tear gas to help end a four-and-a-half hour standoff this morning in the eastern valley.
The incident began about 7:12 a.m. when a resident called police to report discovering an unknown man asleep in the resident’s car, parked in the 4300 block of Ridgedale Avenue, near Vegas Valley Drive and Lamb Boulevard.
Metro spokesman Bill Cassell said the responding officer made contact with the intruder, who acknowledged the officer’s presence. But the man refused to leave, and “barricaded” himself in the car.
Negotiations with the man failed, so crisis negotiators and a SWAT unit were called in for assistance. Officers set up a blockade around the area, evacuated several nearby homes and continued talks with the man, Cassell said.
About midmorning, the suspect began firing a gun from inside the vehicle. Cassell said police believed the three shots were random, and didn’t believe the suspect was aiming at anyone or anything. Police did not return the shots, and no one was reported injured.
About 11:40 a.m., the SWAT unit was able to place a tear gas canister in or near the vehicle. Overcome by the tear gas, the suspect got out of the car and engaged in a brief struggle with police, who were able to subdue him and take him into custody, Cassell said.
Metro Police officials said the suspect, 29 year-old Mitereo Ramirez, has been booked at the Clark County Detention Center. He is being charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of discharging a firearm from a vehicle and one count of resisting a police officer with a firearm.
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