Teenager’s death during arrest attempt ruled suicide

The boy who apparently shot himself in the head last week just as Las Vegas police were moving to detain him died by suicide, the Clark County coroner’s office ruled Monday.

The incident happened Wednesday afternoon inside a home on the 4900 block of Miners Ridge Drive, near East Tropicana Avenue and Wetlands Park Lane, the Metropolitan Police Department had said.

On the day of the shooting, Anthony Garrett, 16, was suspected of at least one burglary within the east valley neighborhood.

Garrett’s mother gave police permission to enter the home, and when they attempted to arrest him inside a bathroom police said they saw Garrett loading a firearm.

“They confront him right away, order him to put the weapon down,” Metro spokesman Jay Rivera had said. But instead, the boy ran into a connected bedroom, where officers heard one gunshot.

Police did not return fire, but it took at least four hours for Garrett to receive medical care because police thought they were the intended target of the shot. They evacuated the family from the home and called in SWAT, trying to negotiate with the boy from outside.

It wasn’t until a SWAT team made entry late Wednesday that officers realized the boy had been wounded. Garrett was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where he died.

At the time, police did not know whether the gunshot was accidental or an act of suicide. No other information was available Monday.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.