Suspect in Strip shooting was accused of pushing one of the victims months before

Months before he was accused of gunning down two people on the Las Vegas Strip, Manuel Ruiz was accused of pushing one of them on Fremont Street, city records show.

Ruiz, 41, faces two charges of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the June 8 shooting in front of the Bellagio that claimed the lives of 44-year-old Rodney Finley and 43-year-old Tanisha Finley.

Rodney Finley and Ruiz were both YouTubers, and police have said the livestreamed shooting — just four days before Ruiz was supposed to appear in court in the battery case — stemmed from a long-running feud between them.

There are parallels between allegations in the two incidents: the role of video filming, self-defense claims, physical altercations in densely packed casino areas and Ruiz’s willingness to talk to police about those disputes.

A public defender who represented Ruiz in court did not comment on the battery allegations.

On April 5, two city officers were on Fremont Street when they “observed two groups yelling at each other and one male attempting to fight another male.”

Finley claimed at the time that he was filming when Ruiz “walked from behind him and pushed him without being provoked,” the records showed.

“Finley additionally advised they knew each other from streaming live on YouTube,” the city report said.

He wanted to press charges against Ruiz and filled out a statement.

“I went to go defend myself, and the cops came,” Finley wrote.

Ruiz said he had tapped Finley’s shoulder and told an officer that “Finley did not like him due to Ruiz having more subscribers,” according to the report.

Officers gave Ruiz a Las Vegas Municipal Court citation.

Ruiz mentioned the citation when he was questioned after the shooting, according to a police report.

“According to Manny, Finny posts content talking negatively about his wife and kids,” the Metropolitan Police Department wrote in an arrest report. “Manny said he ignores Finny’s videos and does not pay attention to where they livestream.”

But police have said a YouTube video showed Ruiz “threatening someone and announcing his future locations to challenge that person to show up.”

Archie Coronado, a witness who was watching Finley’s livestream at the time of the shooting, told police he saw Ruiz appear on Finley’s video feed, brandish a gun and fire a series of shots until the phone filming the video fell to the ground.

Coronado said in a Monday phone interview that both Ruiz and Finley were streaming at the time of the April incident. Ruiz appeared to be “hunting down Finny,” he alleged.

Finley talked about wanting to press charges, planned to go to court and intended to produce a video compilation that would reflect poorly on Ruiz, according to Coronado.

As Finley did after the dispute on Fremont Street, Ruiz has claimed he was trying to defend himself, according to authorities.

Police said Ruiz told them he thought Finley was reaching for a gun and believed Finley’s wife also had a gun.

“When detectives confronted him about her injury to the back of her head, he claimed she must’ve turned,” the arrest report stated.

No guns were found at the scene of the shooting, which Ruiz fled, according to police. When detectives showed Ruiz a video that showed him approaching Finley while firing shots, he “became frustrated and asked to speak with an attorney,” Metro said.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.