Suspected car thief facing multiple charges after SWAT standoff at Las Cruces apartment complex

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A suspected car thief was in custody facing multiple charges following a standoff with police SWAT officers at a Las Cruces apartment complex on Tuesday afternoon.

Corey Lee Willis, 27, was charged with one count each of possession of a stolen vehicle, resisting and obstructing an officer, and breaking and entering a dwelling.

The standoff, which lasted a couple hours, began after officers said they spotted Willis in a stolen car from Ruidoso that he abandoned along the 1500 block of Missouri Avenue. Officers said Willis then fled on foot into the nearby apartment building, where he broke into a second floor apartment and barricaded himself inside.

Police finally took Willis into custody after SWAT officers set off a so-called flash bomb in that apartment. It caused a loud boom heard throughout the neighborhood, but authorities said no gunshots were fired.

Around the time the flash-bomb went off, police said Willis broke through the ceiling of the apartment he was holed up in before jumping from the roof only to be nabbed by a police dog.

The standoff unfolded on a busy street about four blocks west of Conley Elementary School and one-half mile east of Las Cruces High School.

Willis was being treated Tuesday evening at a local hospital for multiple injuries stemming from his jump; once he's released he'll be taken to the Dona Ana County jail to be booked and held without bond pending a court appearance.

Authorities did not provide any details about a second possible suspect from the standoff that police had earlier mentioned remained at-large.