Prophet with a Pistol

It is a peculiar feature of modern civilization that a man may announce himself as Jesus Christ, and the neighborhood will not argue theology with him so much as call the police.

Such was the case in downtown Las Vegas on the evening of April 21, when George Barrios, age 39, took to proclaiming divinity while attempting to relieve his neighbors of their belongings and their peace of mind. Reports say he had been practicing this new gospel for weeks, banging on doors, breaking things, and spreading revelations that did not improve with repetition.

When officers arrived around 4:55 p.m., they found not a sermon but a handgun. Barrios allegedly produced it from his waistband and pointed it at them, which is a form of argument that seldom persuades but frequently escalates. Police responded with two shots, and the situation advanced from disorderly preaching to a full evening’s barricade.

Barrios then retired indoors and held a congregation of one, assisted by SWAT and crisis negotiators, who labored for hours to convince him that surrender was a more practical creed. Witnesses say he made suicidal remarks and invited officers to shoot him, an invitation they declined, preferring the slower and more bureaucratic miracle of due process.

By 10:30 p.m., the matter had settled with the aid of a K-9 and less-lethal measures, which are the government’s way of saying it prefers you alive to explain yourself. Barrios was taken to UMC for treatment of dog-bite injuries and a minor impact wound, then booked on charges that read less like scripture and more like a cautionary tale: four felony counts of assault on a protected person with a deadly weapon, resisting an officer with a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and a touch of property destruction for seasoning.

Police recovered a Rapture GF9 handgun (please note the irony) from the apartment and noted that Barrios, being a convicted felon in California, was prohibited from owning such an instrument. Though prohibition, like prophecy, is only as effective as a man’s willingness to obey it.

He remains in custody, which is one place where revelations tend to quiet down and the law, at last, gets the final word.