Armed security guards coming to Reno homeless shelter in wake of violent incidents, death
RENO, Nev. April 9 2019 Armed security guards will be coming to the downtown Reno homeless shelter starting this week after a recent uptick in violent incidents, according to a City of Reno spokesman.
Seven days a week, there will be one guard at the Record Street property from 1:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and a second guard there from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Outreach monitors from the Volunteers of America, the organization that operates the shelter, will be on hand for the first week of the 30-day pilot program, Reno spokesman Jon Humbert said.
Humbert said the Volunteers of America identified problematic times of day when incidents were more common and added security guards during those times.
The additional security is not new spending because it comes from an existing contract that Reno, Sparks and Washoe County have with the Volunteers of America.
According to a March 18 letter sent from the Reno, Sparks and Washoe County managers to the Volunteers of America, there have been ‘assaults, stabbings and even a recent death.’
The first incident was in January, when a man was stabbed in the men’s shelter by a person who was not a resident and was not scanned in.
That prompted the VOA to add a staff member who works between 4:00 p.m. and midnight whose job it is to scan people in.
But a similar incident happened in February when an elderly man was brutally assaulted by a person who was not a resident and was not scanned in.
The most recent incident was when 61-year-old Craig Ruston was found dead on the roof of the VOA shelter on March 8.
Ruston was last seen on camera on March 5 entering the shelter — so it’s possible he was on the roof for a few days. He was also not a resident of the shelter.
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