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Suspect arrested at Las Vegas-area casino after mass shooting threats

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Credit: LVMPD

A Las Vegas-area transgender woman was arrested at a casino parking garage on terrorism-related and weapons charges after authorities say she stole the spouse’s car while it was loaded with firearms and made threats to carry out a mass shooting. More than 50 guns were recovered during the investigation.

The incident began at about 9:38 a.m. Saturday when Henderson police received a 911 call about a domestic dispute. The caller said her ex-spouse, Allison Howlett, had stolen her car and that the vehicle was loaded with numerous firearms, according to Henderson Police Chief Reggie Rader.

The caller also told dispatchers that Howlett had made threats indicating she intended to commit “suicide by cop” and carry out a mass shooting. She provided officers with a description of the vehicle and its license plate number, but did not know where Howlett was headed.

Officers arrived at the home at about 9:51 a.m. and learned that the caller had location tracking on the vehicle. The tracking showed the vehicle was moving before it stopped near Warm Springs Road and Stephanie Street in Henderson, southeast of Las Vegas.

Police began searching the area and, with help from Sunset Station Casino security, found the vehicle at about 11:17 a.m. in the casino’s parking garage. Howlett was inside with music playing loudly and refused commands to get out.

Officers blocked the vehicle with patrol cars to prevent Howlett from fleeing and eventually opened negotiations. When she asked for water, officers used the moment to pull her from the vehicle and move her away from the firearms inside, taking her into custody.

Rader said Howlett had been sitting on a handgun and had access to a fully automatic, silenced MP5-style machine gun in the back seat.

Police said those details supported the reported threats and prompted Henderson police to notify the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Southern Nevada Counterterrorism Center.

Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said counterterrorism investigators and members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force responded and found several alleged threats made by Howlett over a period of time, including threats about becoming an active shooter or carrying out a mass attack in Las Vegas.

At a press briefing, police played a recording from 2024 in which a voice believed to be Howlett threatened a mass shooting if the FBI did not arrest her.

“There’s one day you’re going to piss me the f*ck off and it’s going to be the last f*cking straw,” the voice said. “You’re going to be the reason hundreds of people lose their goddamn life.”

Investigators later searched the vehicle and recovered 22 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, including multiple handguns, rifles and firearm-related equipment.

A search of the Henderson residence recovered 30 more firearms, automatic weapons, an M2 .50-caliber firearm, two Colt AR-style rifles with attached M203 grenade launchers, seven suppressors and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Police said the firearms belonged to the other person in the relationship, not Howlett. Officials said they understood the two were both males and had been married.

The caller, identified by FOX5 as Julie, told the station that she is a gun dealer and had been transporting firearms out of state, which is why the car was packed.

Julie told FOX5 that she woke up that morning to find Howlett spending money on her credit card before Howlett came in with a gun. Julie said she struggled to get the gun away from Howlett after Howlett pulled the trigger, then ran outside and unloaded it after Howlett fled.

Julie said the threats had been going on for a long time and that she had repeatedly contacted authorities. Henderson police told FOX5 that officers had responded to the couple’s residence four times.

Julie also told the station that Howlett was placed on a Legal 2000 mental health hold days before the arrest, after she allegedly pointed a firearm at her own head and then at Julie on June 21.

Howlett was charged with multiple offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence, making a threat related to an act of terrorism, grand larceny of a vehicle, grand larceny of a firearm, resisting a public officer with a firearm, four counts related to short-barreled rifles, and eight counts related to machine guns or silencers.

Officials said the investigation remains in its early stages, especially as it relates to the suspect’s motive and background. Howlett is being held on $500,000 bail and is due back in court later this month.

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