LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Las Vegas Metro police arrested an evangelical pastor accused of having guns and drugs in a hotel room in an incident that initially sparked a counter-terrorism response, Nexstar’s 8 News Now Investigators have learned.
David McGee, 61, faces drug and gun-related charges connected to his Aug. 20 arrest at the Strat Hotel Casino & Tower, records said. McGee was the senior pastor at the closed The Bridge Fellowship, outside Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Though its building shuttered in 2023, the evangelical ministry continues online and through radio programs.
On Aug. 20, drug and counter-terrorism detectives responded to the hotel after McGee reported a piece of property missing, documents said. McGee told police he was visiting Las Vegas from North Carolina and had arrived in a private jet to find his daughter.
When officers asked McGee if he had any weapons in his room, he reportedly replied, “Yes, I have a gun in my guitar case,” documents said. Hotel employees had previously warned McGee about the policy after he allegedly brought a shotgun to his room days earlier.