Last week, a woman was taken hostage at the Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and held captive for several hours by an irate man who had been seen arguing with her before the standoff.
Police and a SWAT team attended the Las Vegas Strip resort along with crisis negotiators who attempted to diffuse the situation. During the standoff, the suspect, identified as 35-year-old Matthew John Ermond Mannix, threw items and pieces of furniture out of the shattered hotel room window, causing parts of the resort to be sealed off.
It took five and a half hours for the SWAT team to enter the room to rescue the woman, possibly while it was ascertained whether the man was armed as he had indicated he was. Mannix was arrested without any shots being fired and the woman was released unharmed.
Mannix now faces multiple charges. According to the police report obtained by KLAS, Mannix was "extremely high on drugs" at the time of the incident.
The woman in the room was also under the influence of drugs and had been living a transient lifestyle on the Las Vegas Strip with Mannix for several days.
Matthew Mannix appeared in court on Monday, July 17 where prosecutors formally charged him with first-degree kidnapping, coercion with a deadly weapon, destruction of property worth $5,000 or more, and disregarding the safety of persons or property, according to court records.
The arrest report revealed that the unnamed woman was Mannix’s girlfriend who told police that she was terrified that Mannix would throw her out of the 21st floor window.
The Las Vegas Review Journal interviewed Mannix while he was being held in Clark County Detention Center. He said:
“I had no intention of hurting her, taking her hostage. She wanted to be with me the whole time. She helped me barricade the door. This is just a huge misunderstanding. I didn’t take anybody hostage. I didn’t try to commit any crimes. I was just in a very bad situation.”