A still image from police body-worn camera footage capturing the tense moments of a domestic violence incident involving a man wielding a blowtorch in Las Vegas (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department).
A dramatic confrontation unfolded in Las Vegas this week, resulting in the deaths of a teenage girl and a male assailant during a domestic violence episode. Local law enforcement officials described the event as chaotic, with officers ultimately using deadly force in response.
The ordeal began on Monday when police were dispatched to a home on Pigeon Point Court. The 911 call came from a distraught woman who reported that her boyfriend, 48-year-old Jason Simmons, was pursuing her with a dangerous weapon—a blowtorch.
Amid the panic, the woman cried out to the emergency operators, “He’s about to burn me up!” Her chilling words underscored the gravity of the situation, prompting an urgent police response.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Assistant Sheriff Fred Haas from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department provided a detailed account of the incident, shedding light on the tragic events that transpired that day.
The 911 caller stayed on the line for some time, police said, eventually hiding in a bathroom after she got shot, and telling dispatchers the man had set his sights on torching the entire house.
When officers made their way inside, they eventually encountered the suspect, who barricaded himself in a room and then fired seven rounds through the locked door, police said. One of those rounds injured Officer Zaira Venegas-Hernandez, 36, breaking through her Kevlar vest.
The officer fired back 11 times with her Glock 9 mm, according to law enforcement. After that, police scrambled out of the residence and declared a barricade or standoff situation.
As police left, another officer also returned fire on the suspect, Capt. Adam Seely said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“They had to deal with fire, smoke, gasoline in the area, and still responded into that residence to help those people that were in need,” Haas said. “Imagine the emotions from this department.”
Eventually, the woman who made the 911 call told police that Simmons had shot himself, according to law enforcement.
Back inside the residence, a SWAT team and crisis negotiators discovered the suspect and a teenage girl suffering from gunshot wounds, police said. Both the girl — who has not been identified by name — and Simmons were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police later identified the girl as the daughter of the 911 caller. Police have not revealed who shot the girl.
As for the woman, she was able to leave the residence shortly before police arrived. She was found suffering from a gunshot wound and burns, and she was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she remains in critical condition from her injuries, police said.
Investigators said the suspect was found with a .223-caliber rifle, three handguns and a blowtorch in his possession.
Had Simmons survived, he would have been charged with murder, attempted murder, arson, kidnapping, mayhem, and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, Haas said.
The post ‘He’s about to burn me up!’: Boyfriend uses blowtorch to try to set girlfriend on fire, goes berserk on cops, resulting in standoff and teenage girl’s death, police say first appeared on Law & Crime.