Man charged with murder in 2 Las Vegas shootings

A man stands accused of murder in two homicides that occurred eight months apart, according to Las Vegas police and court documents.

Elijah M. Lynum, 41, faces two counts of murder in deadly shootings on Dec. 12, 2017, and Aug. 12, according to police. An arrest warrant related to the December shooting was issued on Aug. 20, court records show. He was arrested the next day.

Prosecutors charged Lynum with murder in the Aug. 12 homicide on Aug. 31, the records show.

The Metropolitan Police Department arrest warrant implicates Lynum in the Dec. 12 shooting of Tyrone Johnson, 25, inside of a trailer on the 3600 block of Twain Circle. Police determined Lynum was one of three men who went into a bedroom in the trailer and shot him multiple times, according to the warrant.

Homicide detectives were told Lynum “bragged” about the shooting to someone during May or June and described “intimate” details of the scene, the largely redacted warrant said.

Detectives determined a motive for the shooting was the beating of Lynum’s brother, an attack that Lynum thought involved Johnson, the warrant said.

Although the Twain Circle shooting happened in December, it took Metro several months to develop Lynum as a suspect through witness interviews that placed him at the scene, a June interview with Lynum while he was jailed at Clark County Detention Center on a drug offense, and phone calls he made while behind bars, the warrant indicates.

The exact date of Lynum’s release from the county jail wasn’t clear.

Police received information that Stanley Herring, 39, was at the scene of the Twain Circle homicide, police and court documents indicate. He was killed more than a week later in a Dec. 22, 2017, triple homicide on Del Santos Avenue, although the two cases didn’t appear to be otherwise related, the warrant said.

Lynum is also a murder suspect in the killing of Ted Williams Hale, 44, who was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest about 10:30 p.m. Aug. 12 in an east valley apartment complex, Metro homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday.

A 911 caller found Hale in the doorway of an apartment often used by squatters after an apparent fight at the Silver Pines apartment complex, 6650 E. Russell Road.

The initial investigation indicated Hale was staying in a vacant apartment with several other people before the shooting, police said. Detectives believe the other occupants fled after the shooting.

Lynum has a preliminary hearing for the Dec. 12 shooting scheduled for Tuesday, court records show.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.