Police Arrest Las Vegas Casino Hoax Bomber

A man that claimed to have a bomb strapped to his chest caused the evacuation of Arizona Charlie’s Hotel and Casino on Saturday. The incident lasted for about 2 hours before the threat turned out to be a hoax, and police arrested the man. The name of the man hasn’t been released, but police say that he was apparently trying to commit suicide by cop.

Sergeant John Sheahan described the incident, saying that the man was white with gray hair and walked into the casino at about 9:40am. He approached the security podium and lifted his shirt to a female security guard, who saw what looked like a bomb around his chest. He told her that she had 5 minutes to evacuate the building before he blew the place up. The security convinced him to go outside while they evacuated.

On the north side of the building, Sheahan continued, officers put handcuffs on the man, but backed away after they saw the device around his chest. A SWAT team and the Las Vegas Fire Department’s bomb squad responded to the scene, surrounding the man. SWAT negotiators talked to the man, who kept saying shoot me or he would detonate the bomb and blow everyone up.

When the negotiators found out that the bomb wasn’t real, they talked him into giving up around 11:45am. Sheahan didn’t know what charges the man was arrested on, but said that he could face federal counts for his actions.

The incident also caused the Boulder Highway outside the casino to be closed. However, after it was over, everything returned to normal and customers were allowed to enter the casino again.