Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Report: Suspect tried to stab Metro Police dog about a dozen times

Armed with a knife and pacing the roof of a Las Vegas convenience store, the suspect refused to surrender and said he did not want to hurt officers.

When Joseph Arquilla finally climbed down a ladder police set for him early Saturday, he stabbed a police dog, swinging at the animal about a dozen times with a knife, even after the weapon broke, according to his arrest report.

Arquilla was bitten by the dog and shot twice with less-lethal rounds by police to end the hourslong standoff, police said.

The K-9, Hunter, is recovering after emergency surgery, while Arquilla is in jail on six counts of resisting a public officer and one count of mistreating a police dog, Clark County Detention Center logs show. Bail was set at $100,000.

A store clerk summoned police to the convenience store at about 12:30 a.m. at 7311 S. Eastern Ave. The suspect, the clerk said, had not gone into the store, but instead climbed on the roof, and he had a knife, the report said.

Police had reason to believe Arquilla was suicidal and they wanted to take him into a hospital on a Legal 2000 — a mandatory psychological evaluation and treatment — but he continued to disobey cops’ orders.

SWAT officers set up a couple of ladders for him to come down and threw him a cellphone to communicate with officers on, but efforts proved futile, according to the report.

Finally, at 4:32 a.m., Arquilla began to climb down, yet he wouldn’t drop the knife, police said. Officers shot him with a less-lethal round, which was ineffective, while simultaneously releasing the dog.

That’s when Arquilla began swinging the knife, stabbing the dog on its neck, police said. A second less-lethal round was shot and the suspect was pinned and then taken into custody.

Despite suffering stab wounds, the dog did not let loose, digging his teeth into the suspect’s wrist until he was in custody, officials said.