A terrifying domestic violence call in Las Vegas ended in a deadly standoff after police say an armed man chased a woman with a blowtorch, opened fire on officers and left a teenage girl dead.
The chaos began Monday when police rushed to a home on Pigeon Point Court after a woman called 911 and said her boyfriend, 48-year-old Jason Simmons, was chasing her with a blowtorch.
“He’s about to burn me up!” she reportedly told dispatchers.
The woman stayed on the phone as the situation escalated. Police said she eventually hid inside a bathroom after being shot and warned dispatchers that Simmons was trying to set the house on fire.
When officers entered the home, they encountered Simmons barricaded inside a room.
Authorities say he suddenly fired seven rounds through a locked door.
One of those bullets struck Officer Zaira Venegas-Hernandez, 36, and penetrated her Kevlar vest.
Venegas-Hernandez returned fire 11 times with her Glock 9 mm, police said.
Another officer also fired at Simmons as police backed out of the home and declared a barricade situation.
Assistant Sheriff Fred Haas said officers were forced to deal with smoke, fire and gasoline while still trying to rescue the people trapped inside.
The woman who called 911 eventually told police that Simmons had shot himself.
A SWAT team and crisis negotiators later entered the home and found Simmons and a teenage girl suffering from gunshot wounds.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police later confirmed that the teenager was the daughter of the woman who made the 911 call.
Authorities have not said who shot the girl.
The woman was able to escape the house shortly before police arrived and was found suffering from a gunshot wound and burns.
She was rushed to a hospital and remained in critical condition.
Investigators said Simmons was found with a .223-caliber rifle, three handguns and a blowtorch.
Police said that if Simmons had survived, he would have faced a long list of charges including murder, attempted murder, arson, kidnapping, mayhem and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
