An off-duty Las Vegas police officer shot his wife and young son before setting his home ablaze and committing suicide Monday, authorities said.

A 52-year-old man dialed 911 from his Boulder City, Nev., home at 8:20 a.m. and told a dispatcher that he had killed his wife and his son and that he planned to set his home on fire and harm any responding officers, said Keith Paul, a spokesman for the Henderson Police Department, which was handling the investigation.


When officers arrived, a man wielding what appeared to be a handgun stood in the doorway, officials said. He ignored commands from the officers and went back inside. It was unclear whether the house was already ablaze.

When a SWAT team eventually entered the partially charred home, authorities said, they found the bodies of the man, his wife and their son.


The Las Vegas Police Department didn’t immediately return phone calls from the Los Angeles Times. But the Associated Press reported that Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie, the elected head of the police department, held a brief press conference Monday and confirmed that the incident involved a lieutenant in the department.

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marisa.gerber@latimes.com


@marisagerber