Las Vegas police investigating body found in south valley

Las Vegas police are investigating what they’re calling the targeted killing of a man in his south valley home on Saturday afternoon.

At about 2 p.m., police responded to a reported home invasion on the 6300 block of Sandpiper Way near South Torrey Pines Drive and West Twain Avenue, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Dan McGrath said at a briefing.

Arriving police found a white man in his mid-30s dead in the home with a gunshot wound to the head. A man and a woman were also inside the residence; McGrath said the woman was the victim’s girlfriend and the man was the victim’s roommate.

The man and woman told police the incident was drug-related. Patrol officers who responded to the call found drug paraphernalia in the home, police said.

“As far as what exactly transpired, we’re in the preliminary stages right now,” McGrath said. “The suspects knew where they were going. It appears it was targeted toward the victim.”

The police said they’re looking for two Hispanic men, apparently in their 20s, who entered the residence. Some type of altercation occurred before the victim was shot, police said, and neighbors saw the two men walking away shortly after, police said.

The victim’s girlfriend and roommate “scrambled out of the house” when shots were fired, McGrath said.

Police haven’t released the victim’s identity.

Michael Linton, a friend of the victim, said he was on the phone with the victim’s roommate just before the roommate found the victim’s body.

“This used to be a good neighborhood, but in the last 10 or 15 years, it’s gotten really bad,” said Linton, added that he has lived in the neighborhood for 39 years. “There’s a lot of drugs here.”

McGrath said the heavier-set of the two suspects was last seen wearing a white shirt, dark pants and a black backpack while the thinner man was wearing a checkered shirt and dark pants.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.