A sheriff says authorities quickly decided to arrest an El Salvadoran immigrant suspected of four recent northern Nevada slayings after he approached a regional mall that has a large gun store.
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that police vehicles pinned a BMW driven by 19-year-old Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman during Saturday’s arrest in a Carson City mall parking lot.
Furlong says a flash-bang grenade was used, but no gunshots were fired.
Furlong says Martinez-Guzman did not have a weapon when he was handcuffed.
The sheriff says he did not know if there was a gun in the car when it was sealed as evidence and taken to Reno for crime lab processing.
The sheriff says investigators watched Martinez-Guzman go to a car wash and trash bins on Saturday.
Furlong says the investigators feared Martinez-Guzman might try to dispose of evidence connected to the four slayings.
Martinez-Guzman is jailed in Carson City awaiting a Thursday court appearance.
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