Review-Journal reporter Casey Harrison’s most memorible local news stories of 2025
A YouTuber was accused of killing a rival content creator and his wife on the Las Vegas Strip, a British man and his skydiving instructor were injured after a parachute malfunction, and police said a mass shooting at a local gym was likely averted due to a gun failure.
These were among Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Casey Harrison’s most memorable local news stories of 2025.
LVAC gym shooting
Fitness enthusiasts were left running for their lives after an early afternoon shooting May 16 at a Las Vegas Athletic Clubs gym in the central valley left three people injured and two dead, including the gunman.
Daniel Ortega, 34, entered the front of the LVAC at 1725 N. Rainbow Blvd. and opened fire, killing manager Edgar Quinonez and striking three others, the Review-Journal previously reported.
Ortega was equipped with a rifle, but it malfunctioned after 24 shots, which likely prevented the shooting from becoming a mass casualty event, Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Jamie Prosser said days after the shooting.
Officers shot and killed Ortega as he tried to flee from the front of the gym with his rifle in hand.
Quinonez was remembered by friends and loved ones as a “super positive person” and was described in LVAC social media posts as a “beloved part of the LVAC family for 15 years.”
Slaying on the Strip
Rodney and Tanisha Finley were livestreaming to YouTube while in front of the Bellagio fountains late June 8 when a gunman and rival YouTuber later identified as Manuel Ruiz approached, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot the couple, according to Las Vegas police and prosecutors.
Ruiz, 41, turned himself in at a Henderson police station the following day and has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon.
A trial is scheduled for 2026, and prosecutors said in August they intend to seek the death penalty.
Skydiving crash injures student, instructor
A British tourist and a skydiving instructor suffered life-threatening injuries during a skydiving-related accident Sept. 17 in Jean, and both have since been released from the hospital.
Metro said in a report after the crash the two were strapped together and went into an uncontrollable spin after an apparent parachute malfunction, which caused the two to hit the ground at upward of 45 mph.
The tourist, identified as Mitchell Deakin, 24, of the United Kingdom, sustained a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, a perforated lung and kidney laceration, according to a GoFundMe online fundraiser that raised nearly $28,000 dollars to pay for Deakin’s hospital expenses. Deakin was released from University Medical Center in early October.
A family friend identified the instructor as Jiron Arcos Ponce.
Lawsuit filed after death of ‘Hawaii Five-0,’ ‘Magnum P.I.’ actor
The family of Taylor Tuli Wily filed a lawsuit Sept. 26 accusing a Las Vegas-based medical transport company of dropping the actor and former sumo wrestler while loading him into a vehicle in 2023.
Wily died as a direct result of “severe” injuries he suffered after he fell while being loaded onto a non-medical transport van owned by GMTCare LLC, in Las Vegas on Oct. 3, 2023, according to the five-page complaint filed in Clark County District Court.
Multiple media outlets reported that Wily died June 20, 2024, at the age of 56.
Wily was born in Hawaii as Teila Tuli, according to an Associated Press obituary. He played Kamekona Tupuola on “Hawaii Five-0” from 2010 through 2020, a role that continued with the reboot of “Magnum P.I.”
Before acting, Wily was a well-known sumo wrestler and competed in the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to the fighting league’s website.
Indictment, censure of Henderson councilwoman
A big story in Henderson in 2025 concerned the Metro investigation that led to the indictment and then censure of Councilwoman Carrie Cox. The councilwoman pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of monitoring or attempting to monitor a private conversation and has denied wrongdoing. A criminal trial is currently set for October.
It had already been a newsworthy year in the Las Vegas Valley suburb with the highly public firing of former police Chief Hollie Chadwick, the hiring of Chadwick’s replacement and the arrival of a new city manager.
Cox, who is running for re-election in 2025, has defied calls from Larson and Mayor Michelle Romero to resign. Romero is also seeking re-election in a mayoral race that also includes Chadwick.
Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.
