1 dead after Thursday shooting near downtown Las Vegas

A man was shot dead Thursday night near downtown Las Vegas, police said.

Officers were initially responding to a call reporting gunshots about 6 p.m. on the 2100 block of Ballard Drive, near Eastern Avenue and Charleston Boulevard, said Lt. Timothy Hatchett of the Metropolitan Police Department.

When officers arrived, they found a man dead with multiple gunshot wounds, Metro homicide Lt. Dan McGrath said. Witnesses said there was yelling, then a fistfight before one person drew a gun on the other, shooting him.

The shooter was seen leaving the area in an early-2000s black pickup truck.

McGrath said the shooting may have been drug- or gang-related. Police do not believe the man who was shot lived at the apartment complex, but McGrath said the shooter might.

McGrath said there was a double homicide in the same area last year, and he added that Metro will increase patrol units in the area in the future.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find her on Twitter: @rachelacrosby