Shooting inside Las Vegas gym kills 1, injures 3; gunman then killed by police — VIDEO
Frantic gymgoers ran for their lives as a man shot four people at a west Las Vegas Valley fitness center, killing one and injuring three, on Friday afternoon. The gunman was then shot and killed by Las Vegas police officers.
Gary Steward, 20, and Liam Johnson, 19, of Las Vegas, were on their way to the Las Vegas Athletic Clubs gym at 1725 N. Rainbow Blvd., near West Lake Mead Boulevard, just before the shooting occurred around 1:30 p.m., when they stopped at a nutrition store.
“That saved our lives, basically,” Steward said. “If we hadn’t done that, we would have been right at the front desk where this shooter came in. As we’re walking up, bullets started coming through and people started flying out.”
The men said they saw glass breaking and realized they were walking into a dangerous situation. They ran back to where they had parked.
“We thought it was a fight at first,” Johnson said. “We were like ‘screw this’ and we ran.”
Two of the injured shooting victims were taken to University Medical Center. One was in critical condition, while the other suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Another person made their own way to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Scott Kerbs, a spokesperson for UMC, said four people in total were brought there.
The shooter was taken to UMC, where he was pronounced dead.
Inside the gym, police said, one person was dead.
‘A person armed with a weapon’
The call came in just before 1:35 p.m. for a shooting in the 1700 block of North Rainbow Boulevard, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. The initial shooting happened inside the LVAC, though the shooter’s body was later seen on the ground outside the building.
“The details of that call indicated that there was a person armed with a weapon and shooting inside of the Las Vegas Athletic Club,” said Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Andrew Walsh at the scene Friday afternoon.
In a brief statement to reporters at the scene, Walsh said that there was an “officer-involved shooting” and that the suspect was shot and there was “no longer a threat to the public.”
In a news release, Metro said officers fired shots when an armed man who was standing at the door ran out.
“Officers responded to the scene and identified a suspect standing at the door armed with a firearm,” the news release said. “The suspect ran out the door and officers discharged their firearms, striking him.”
One person was dead in the gym, Walsh said. Police would not say Friday whether the victim who died was a gym employee.
The people who were wounded were being treated for injuries that police believed came from the gunfire from the shooter, he said.
“There have been additional victims who are being treated for injuries that they received, we believe at this time, at the hands of the suspect and the gunfire that took place inside of the facility, and we do have one person deceased inside of the gym,” Walsh said.
‘It was traumatizing’
Kim Hannah, an LVAC member who was at the gym when the shooting started, said she tried to help a man in the parking lot who appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound.
She showed the Las Vegas Review-Journal a video clip she took of a man who appeared to have been shot in the back.
“It was traumatizing,” Hannah said. “This man didn’t seem to know he had been shot. I also heard a woman screaming that her child was in the day care room and other people screaming.”
In a separate briefing at about 5:15 p.m., Metro Capt. Esmeralda Boveda said it was still too soon to determine a motive. Other details, like the weapon used by the shooter, were not released.
Neither the name of the person killed nor the name of the gunman was released Friday.
Lansing Santana of Las Vegas was also inside the gym near the racquetball area when the shooting started. He said the shooter appeared to have a long gun, possibly an AR-15.
“I just heard boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, so I immediately took off,” Santana said. “At the time, I wasn’t scared, but I did think I was hit at one point. In the parking lot, I had to hug a couple of people. Men, whatever. People were breaking down. Someone had to be there to hug someone.”
Other witnesses who were at the gym also described a chaotic scene.
“I was in the shower, and I heard what was a weird noise, which turned out to be gunshots,” witness Myles Blanton of Las Vegas said. “And then I heard the emergency exit, the door sound.”
‘Who shoots up a gym?’
Like many others, Steward and Johnson couldn’t go back to their vehicle in the gym’s parking lot — the area had been declared a crime scene — so they went to a gas station across the street.
“It’s just a weird feeling right now,” Steward said. “It’s strange. Who shoots up a gym?”
Dawn Lewis of Las Vegas said she was also on her way to the LVAC on Friday afternoon shortly before 2 p.m., though she arrived after police did. She wasn’t able to go into the gym, but stayed near the scene for a while.
“I have two safe places and this is one of them,” Lewis said about a block away from the gym that she said she frequents about six times per week. “I come here to heal from what’s going on throughout the rest of the planet. Now this happens. I’m just sending love and light right now.”
Though they were all strangers, Lewis embraced Steward and Johnson, all three knowing they had lived through a harrowing event.
No officers were reported injured, police said, and it was not known Friday evening if the shooter was a member at the gym.
In a statement sent out Friday, an LVAC spokesperson said the company was “heartbroken” by the “terrible and traumatic event.”
“Our hearts go out to everyone who was affected,” the statement said. “We’re currently working closely with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, providing them with video footage to help with their investigation. At this time, the northwest club will remain closed, and we will update you as soon as we have any information about when it may reopen.”
The spokesperson said the company was in the process of arranging for grief counseling for any employee who may need it.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X. Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X. or @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky. Review-Journal digital content producer Tony Garcia contributed to this report.
