Quiet New Year’s turns deadly in Las Vegas
The early morning 2019 fireworks and revelry had all but fizzled Tuesday afternoon, when a man was killed by security guards at a Henderson casino.
The man was walking through Green Valley Ranch casino about 3:40 p.m. when patrons notified security that he was carrying a handgun, Henderson Police Department Lt. Kirk Moore said.
Three security guards confronted the man in the east tower lobby, Moore said. He reportedly drew the weapon, and two guards shot him. The man received medical attention at the casino but later died.
It was unclear how many shots were fired, whether the victim fired his weapon or what he was doing in the lobby, Moore said.
“It’s very preliminary,” Moore said. “It was contained very quickly, and we’re still investigating.”
Hours before Henderson police responded to the shooting, a Las Vegas police officer was hospitalized with serious injuries after a suspected DUI crash early Tuesday on Paradise Road near Corporate Drive, authorities said.
The crash, about 4:30 a.m., happened while two police officers on foot were hit when a car slammed into a police motorcycle, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. William Matchko said.
One officer was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. The other officer was not injured, Matchko said.
Police believe the driver whose car struck the motorcycle was impaired, Matchko said. The suspect, a man in his 20s, was not injured and was arrested at the scene. His name was not released.
Celebration aftermath
America’s Party on the Strip brought hundreds of thousands of visitors, who counted down the last seconds of 2018 and watched fireworks explode overhead.
By about 2 a.m., 11 people had been taken from the Strip to local hospitals, according to Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa.
Three people had alcohol-related issues, two were drug-related and one was mental health-related. Two of the people taken to hospitals had fainted. Pappa did not have details about the other three people.
From 6 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday, the Nevada Highway Patrol worked 11 property damages crashes, 11 injury crashes and three hit-and-runs, an increase from last year, NHP spokesman Jason Buratczuk said.
Cleanup
New Year’s Eve brings revelry and memories but leaves behind tons of trash every year.
Shortly after partygoers rang in 2019, Clark County employees took to the streets to clean up the mess.
Eighty-four workers in staggered shifts began collecting trash and sweeping streets about 1 a.m. Tuesday. The Nevada Department of Transportation deployed 35 employees to help in the effort.
Pappa said Monday that the public works department would collect between 13 and 15 tons of trash.
The public works department would take the truckloads of trash to the county yard, Pappa said. NDOT’s share of the trash will be taken to the Republic Services dump.
Slow going
Many of the hundreds of thousands of people who descended on Las Vegas for the holiday came from California, as evidenced by the 16-mile backup at the state line on Interstate 15, the Regional Transportation Commission tweeted.
Roads leading to Mount Charleston were also congested, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation, which tweeted about 1 p.m. that traffic on westbound Kyle Canyon Road, near Deer Creek Highway, was “gridlocked.”
Frigid weather
Although New Year’s Eve brought near-freezing temperatures, the National Weather Service warned the Valley that Tuesday night would bring in the coldest weather in three years, with a forecast low of 28 degrees at McCarran International Airport.
The weather service issued a hard freeze warning from 10 p.m. Tuesday through 8 a.m., Wednesday, a stark difference from 2017’s warmest year in Las Vegas’ recorded history and the first calendar year in which the airport never reached 32 degrees or below.
First baby
With the new year came new life. Just 10 minutes after midnight, the first baby in the Las Vegas Valley was born at Henderson Hospital.
Melialani Chihiro Manning, 6 pounds and 11 ounces, was born three days early.
“She’s our new year’s resolution,” her mother, Shereen Ramos, said. “Our little miracle.”
Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com. Follow @lauxkimber on Twitter. Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.
