Woman arrested after robbery, kidnapping gets $500,000 bail

By Mary Manning

Monday, July 14, 2008 | 1:21 p.m.

The 28-year-old woman arrested Sunday after she robbed a pet store at gunpoint, fled in a car as police chased her and finally took an elderly woman hostage faces $500,000 bail on numerous charges, authorities said today.

So far the charges include robbery with a deadly weapon, burglary, five counts of kidnapping with a deadly weapon, resisting a police officer, abuse and neglect of a child, two assault with a deadly weapon charges and two counts of failing to stop on order of a police officer, the Henderson Justice Court clerk's office said.

Mandy Hagen, 28, has been booked into the Henderson Detention Center where she awaits a status hearing on July 22. At that time a preliminary hearing will be set, the clerk's office said.

Henderson police say the woman robbed a PetSmart at 531 North Stephanie St. then fled the store in a white compact car about 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

When officers arrived at the pet store, the woman was gone, but they spotted her car near the U.S. 95 Expressway and Tropicana Avenue.

Officers said they tried to pull her over, but she refused, so they pursued her for three miles. Police spokesman Todd Rasmussen said officers saw her pointing a handgun out of the car's window toward them. If police find evidence that she fired at officers, she will face additional charges.

As the chase continued, officers saw Hagen slow her car down as she passed pedestrians on the side of the road.

"At that time, officers believed the woman was attempting to find a person to take hostage," Rasmussen said.

The chase ended at Vegas Valley Drive and Nellis Boulevard, where Hagen pulled into a gas station and stopped near a gas pump. There Hagen grabbed a 70-year-old woman who was pumping gas and took her hostage while holding off police with the handgun, officers said.

As officers surrounded the woman and commanded her to give up and let the innocent woman go, Hagen refused, officers said.

An officer, identified as M. Geiger, tackled Hagen while another hostage crisis negotiator distracted her, Rasmussen said.

No one was injured in the showdown, Rasmussen said. Hagen was then taken into custody.