Sunday, November 3

Hostage freed after hourslong standoff at Las Vegas Strip resort room, police say

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A person was arrested and a girl described as his hostage was launched unhurt Tuesday after an hourslong standoff in a room on the Caesars Palace resort on the Las Vegas Strip, police mentioned.

No accidents have been reported and police didn’t instantly say if the person in custody had been armed in a high-rise tower of the long-lasting Las Vegas Boulevard property. Furniture, cushions and different objects fell from a twenty first ground window, horrifying visitors in a swimming pool space under.

“The suspect has been taken into custody. The female is currently with officers,” the division mentioned in messages posted mid-afternoon Tuesday. Officer Aden OcampoGomez mentioned the lady didn’t look like injured.



Las Vegas police Capt. Stephen Connell mentioned the standoff started about 9:15 a.m. with a report from resort safety {that a} man and girl have been arguing and that the person pulled the lady right into a room “by force.”

Police SWAT officers secured the hallway outdoors the room, though Connell mentioned it was not instantly clear if the person was armed.

Connell instructed reporters through the standoff that the lady believed to be held hostage “has been heard from,” and was believed to be “still OK.”

Outside, visitors heard glass break and noticed curtains billow from a damaged window about two-thirds up the 29-story Palace Tower, certainly one of six towers at Caesars Palace, an iconic and historic centerpiece of the Las Vegas Strip. The resort has almost 4,000 rooms.

Emma Snyder mentioned she was close to a resort swimming pool on her first day of trip from Appleton, Wisconsin, when she heard a number of loud bangs and noticed falling glass. She mentioned it regarded like sparkles.

“People were just staring up and looking,” she mentioned.

Beverly Blackwell of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was lounging by a pool along with her husband, Chris, when she heard glass break and noticed curtains flutter from the damaged window.

“When we saw the window shatter it was kind of a surreal feeling, it got pretty scary,” Blackwell mentioned. “We were told to gather our stuff and rush out the back.”

Both Snyder and Blackwell instructed The Associated Press they thought there could be a shooter or assault. Staff yelled for visitors to evacuate the pool space.

Snyder mentioned some folks hid by a staircase whereas objects flew out the window: a espresso maker, a hair dryer, a desk bureau.

Blackwell mentioned that after half-hour, folks have been instructed they might return to their rooms.

Broken glass and furnishings fell intermittently for about an hour, mentioned Associated Press author John Marshall, who was on trip along with his household in a room on the fifth ground of the Palace Tower.

“It looks like he’s pretty much emptied the room of furniture,” Marshall mentioned of the person police mentioned was barricaded upstairs. Marshall noticed seat cushions, a chair and different objects hit a ledge outdoors the window of his room, and mentioned some fell to the pool space after it had been evacuated.

Hotel workers instructed Marshall and his household that the incident was on the twenty first ground and that visitors on different flooring weren’t evacuated or restricted from actions.

“In the casino, it’s business as usual,” Marshall mentioned, though resort safety officers and police have been seen within the visitor valet space.

OcampoGomez, the Las Vegas police spokesperson, mentioned there have been no quick studies of accidents to anybody within the pool space.

Marshall mentioned he and his household had no preliminary phrase from the resort about what was taking place however mentioned they remained of their room as a precaution. Hotel housekeeping employees members have been nonetheless working in close by rooms, he mentioned.

In a press release after the arrest, Dayna Calkins, a spokesperson for the on line casino proprietor, Caesars Entertainment, referred to the standoff as “a security incident inside a guest room” that had been resolved. The assertion credited Las Vegas police and the corporate’s “security and armed response teams.”

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Dupuy reported from New York.

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