Suspect in 2 deadly Las Vegas shootings dies

A man facing murder charges in two separate Las Vegas homicides eight months apart has died.

Elijah Lynum, 42, died on Nov. 11, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. His cause and manner of death had not been released as of Friday.

Lynum had health issues and went back and forth between the Clark County Detention Center and University Medical Center, his attorney, Monti Levy, said Friday. He died at the hospital, Levy said.

Prosecutors had charged Lynum with murder in deadly shootings on Dec. 12, 2017, and Aug. 12, 2018, but both cases in Clark County District Court were closed Dec. 13, records show.

A Metropolitan Police Department warrant implicated Lynum in the December 2017 shooting of Tyrone Johnson, 25, in 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 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.

Though 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 on a drug offense and phone calls he made while behind bars, the warrant indicates.

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, but the two cases didn’t appear to be otherwise related, the warrant said.

Lynum was 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 at an east valley apartment complex, police have said.

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 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.

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