Holiday shotgun blasts leads to police standoff, arrests

By Dave Toplikar

Saturday, July 5, 2008 | 6:08 a.m.

A 17-year-old shooting a shotgun into the air on July 4 eventually led to him and six of his friends being arrested early this morning following a standoff with Las Vegas police.

Metro Police Lt. Randy Sutton reported this morning that officers responded about 10:14 p.m. Friday to a call of a male discharging a firearm in the 1400 block of Lexington Avenue.

When officers arrived, they saw a male discharging a shotgun into the air and as they approached, he fled and barricaded himself into a nearby business, Sutton said.

Officers learned that he was inside the business with six other male friends and all seven refused to come outside.

Metro Police's SWAT and negotiation teams were called out to the scene and they were able to talk to them and convince them to surrender peacefully to awaiting SWAT officers, Sutton said. The standoff ended at 12:42 a.m. today, he said.

Sutton said the 17-year-old was detained and booked into Clark County Juvenile Hall on a charges of discharging a firearm in a public place, obstructing a public officer with a firearm and minor in possession of a firearm.

The other six, which included four juvenile males, were all charged with one count of obstructing a public officer, Sutton said. The juveniles were taken to juvenile hall and the adults were booked into the city detention center, he said.