Las Vegas Man, 93, Charged with Attempted Murder After Shooting Worker Over Apartment Leak
A disgruntled 93-year-old Las Vegas man allegedly opened fire in the office of his apartment complex, shooting and wounding an employee because he was angry about a leak that had flooded his apartment, say authorities.
On Jan. 2, Robert Thomas walked into the office at the Vista Del Valle apartments in Las Vegas, angry and making threats, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, multiple outlets including local station KTNV, CNN and TIME report.
(The LVMPD did not immediately provide PEOPLE with information, and a spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on the incident.)
“It was later determined that Thomas was upset at the management because of water damage and flooding within his apartment,” Assistant Sheriff Brett Zimmerman said at a news conference on Monday, CNN reports.
A female employee immediately called 911 while Thomas continued to berate the staff.
“While on the phone with the caller, the dispatcher was able to hear some of the threats being made by Thomas,” Zimmerman said.
Captured on surveillance video that police released on Monday, Thomas is then shown pulling out a gun and firing at a wall and then at an employee seated in a chair, KTNV reports.
He can be seen standing over the employee, who is writhing on the floor, before shooting him again, KSNV reports.
Police arrived and ordered Thomas to drop the weapon before an officer fired a shot through the door, striking Thomas on the lapel of his coat, the Washington Post reports.
The officer immediately threw Thomas to the ground and cuffed him.
Thomas and the employee were rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“I didn’t want to hurt the guy, I just wanted to screw him up a little,” Thomas said last week in court, CNN reports.
The employee was treated for his gunshot wounds and released from the hospital, CNN reports.
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Thomas was arrested and charged with attempted murder with a deadly weapon, kidnapping with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm within a structure, burglary with a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon, according to online records from the Clark County Detention Center.
He is being held on $25,000 bond. He has not yet entered a plea. The public defender representing him did not immediately return PEOPLE’s calls for comment.
On Friday in court, an attorney for Thomas said the alleged shooting likely stems from mental issues because he is so elderly, local station KVUU reports.
