An unemployed Reno craps dealer was arrested Friday after barricading himself inside a downtown comic book store and threatening to set off a homemade bomb over a dispute involving stolen comic books, police said.
Robert Allen Bailey, 47, was arrested without incident after a 90-minute standoff at Alex D’s Comics, 638 West Fifth St.

Police negotiators convinced Bailey to surrender without lighting an explosive device made out of small propane canisters, lamp oil and about 4,000 firecrackers, said Reno police Sgt. Doug McPartland.

“He said he wanted to blow up the place or burn it down,” McPartland said. “If he couldn’t have his comic books, nobody could.”

The incident’s origin dates back to 2000, when Bailey’s storage shed in Reno was burglarized and cases of collectible comics he claimed were worth $100,000 were stolen, McPartland said.
An arrest in that case was eventually made, and a small number of comic books recovered, McPartland said.

But Bailey was convinced the owners of Alex D’s Comics had obtained many of his comics, a suspicion leading to his actions Friday, police said.

“The way he put it was: This was his life,” McPartland said. “It’s been brewing with this guy for a long time, and apparently he decided to make things right.”

There is no proof any of the comic books in the store ever belonged to Bailey, police said.

According to police, Bailey entered the comic book store shortly before noon with the explosive device, a pair of handcuffs and a Taser stun gun. He is accused of ordering a female employee to put on the handcuffs and after she refused, a struggle ensued.

The woman escaped him and fled to a nearby business, notifying police. Hostage negotiators reached the suspect by telephone shortly later, ultimately convincing him to surrender.

Members of the police bomb squad took custody of the explosive device, which McPartland described as dangerous.

“It probably would have exploded if he lit it,” McPartland said. “At least it would have caught fire.”

Bailey was arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping, battery with intent to commit robbery, burglary and possession of an explosive device.

Bystanders watched as gun-wielding police surrounded the store and negotiated with Bailey.

“Comic books? It’s pretty strange,” said Diane Green of Reno. “I was wondering what the story was. What’s going on with people?”