Witness describes shooting chaos

A man shot three people, one fatally, before being gunned down by police in a southeast valley apartment complex Monday afternoon.

The shooting started during what is believed to have been a domestic dispute at a unit at Silver Pines Apartments, 6650 E. Russell Road, near Boulder Highway, shortly before 2 p.m.

All three victims fled the apartment, Las Vegas police Capt. Randy Montandon said. A woman who had been pistol-whipped and shot in the face ran to a neighbor, who called police. A man who had been shot multiple times in the torso ran north, out of the complex, to a residential neighborhood. The third man was found dead in a common area of the apartment complex.

When police drove into the complex, the suspect appeared in front of the patrol car with a handgun, Montandon said. Officers fired, hitting the suspect two or three times.

A witness to the shooting described a horrific scene. He asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisal.

He said he was the neighbor the female victim ran to shortly after being shot. His apartment, which he said he typically keeps locked, was unlocked Monday afternoon while he was caring for his infant daughter.

When the woman ran inside his apartment, her face was swollen, and she had a bullet wound to her eye, he said.

"She came in, and she was bleeding out of her face like no other," he said. "And she was basically saying, 'Help me, help me, help me, my boyfriend is trying to kill me.'"

Worried that the gunman might be following her, he told her to leave and run away while he called police.

"I told her, 'You're going to have to go, I have a baby here,'" he said.

He called police and looked out his window. He recognized a man standing in the street -- a short, bald, shirtless Hispanic man who he said lived in the complex. The man had a gun.

He placed his daughter in a closet and returned to the window in time to see a black man run by.

"He looked like he was scared, just scared," the witness said.

The Hispanic man then pointed the gun at the fleeing man -- and in the direction of the apartment of the witness. The witness ducked below the window as he heard two loud "booms."

When he looked up again, he saw the suspect standing over the body of a different man in the street, the gun pointed at the body. Then he saw the suspect pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

That's when an officer showed up in a patrol car, the witness said. The officer jumped out of the car and began shouting orders at the suspect.

He said he saw the suspect fire several times at the officer. The officer ducked for cover, then fired several times at the suspect. The suspect was hit and fell to the ground.

"(He was) saying, 'Help, help, I'm shot!' He's just screaming it out," the witness said.

The suspect and the woman and man who survived the attack were taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. Montandon said all of them suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police were still trying to determine a motive in the attack. Initial reports were that it stemmed from a domestic dispute.

The names of those involved were not released. Montandon described everyone involved in the shooting as young adults in their 20s. The witness said everyone appeared to be 20 to 27 years old.

Police did not identify the relationship between the suspect and the victims, but Montandon said they were all known to one another.

The situation was chaotic after police arrived, with reports of multiple fatalities and a young child injured in the attack.

"We have multiple scenes, we have blood trails, we have another residence we still have to check," Montandon said Monday afternoon.

He said police did find a young child in a vehicle at the scene. The girl had blood on her, but it belonged to one of the victims in the shooting. He said the girl might have been a child of one of the victims.

The man who fled north from the complex ran through a Richmond American Homes development of empty dirt lots and power boxes to the leasing office. That's where the victim was picked up by paramedics and taken to the hospital.

After the female victim fled his apartment, the witness said, he saw her run to an upstairs unit across from his, where a woman began taking care of her.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.