Man shot to death in Las Vegas crime scene that spans four blocks
After gunfire rang out Saturday morning, a man was found dead in the yard of a central Las Vegas home.
Shortly after 9:45 a.m., residents of the 3300 block of South Athens Street, near Maryland Parkway and Desert Inn Road, called 911 to report the shooting. The man had been shot at least once with a handgun and was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders, according to Metropolitan Police Department homicide Sgt. John Scott.
His death was the 145th killing investigated this year by Metro, roughly 71 percent of which were the result of shootings, according to records maintained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The newspaper tracks all homicides in Clark County, including officer-involved shootings and self-defense homicides.
An altercation between the victim and multiple people had preceded the shooting, Scott said. After the gunfire, the group ran from the area.
As of noon, police had one person in custody, but Scott said during a press conference Saturday that detectives were still interviewing that person to determine whether they were involved.
At the time of the news briefing, Scott was not able to provide descriptions of the suspects, but said that police were looking for at least two people — the suspected shooter and one person who they believe left the area with the gunman.
The people who live in the residence where the man was found dead are not suspects, according to Scott.
“It just happened to happen in their yard,” he said Saturday morning at the crime scene, which spanned nearly four blocks. Alleyways and portions of residential roads between Rome and Cambridge streets, bordered by Desert Inn Road to the north, were roped off with yellow crime tape and police vehicles.
The eastern-most edge of the crime scene was marked by a Shell gas station at the intersection of Cambridge and Desert Inn. There, crime scene investigators were seen taking pictures.
As officers swarmed the area during the investigation, kids outside playing could be heard laughing.
The man who was killed will be identified by the Clark County coroner’s office after his family has been notified.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
