LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A grisly murder scene was discovered Monday morning inside a Northwest Valley apartment complex. Five people had been shot in the northwest Las Vegas Valley. So far, four are dead and one is in the hospital.
During a press conference just before 2 p.m., police said the scene appears to be a murder-suicide where an adult man shot an adult woman and three children under the age of 14 years old.
UPDATE: Clark County Coroner releases names, ages of 4 killed in apparent murder-suicide Monday
The initial call to police came in when a man came by to check on his brother, the man believed to have carried out the shooting, and found several people dead and one with severe injuries in the Loreto Palacio Apartments, near Durango Drive and U.S. Highway 95.
LVMPD say they arrived and four of the victims were declared dead on scene and a fifth was transported to UMC trauma center. The injured victim was one of the children and police say they are "clinging to life" as of Monday afternoon.
Police confirmed the adult man was on house arrest at the time of the shooting, which they believed took place early Monday morning. Homicide detectives say calls did not come in reporting the sounds of gunshots fired earlier.
Detectives note the investigation is in its very early stages and cannot confirm if the people in the apartment were an immediate family or if there were previous domestic violence instances at the home.
KTNV reporter Bryan Horwath was on scene and reported the nearby Sandra Lee Thompson Elementary was placed on a soft lockdown due to proximity to the murders and to allow police to have room to respond to the scene safely.
Horwath talked with people at the school about their experiences this morning.
Sandra Lee Thompson Elementary, near where the murders took place, is on a soft lockdown right now pic.twitter.com/ZjUkskpqAC
— Bryan Horwath (@bryanhorwath) December 11, 2023
Nick Touma, a cafeteria worker at the school, lives at the Loreto Palacio complex and was walking home just before noon on Monday.
"It's really scary to be in this situation like this," Touma said. "I've lived in this complex for nearly seven years and I've never seen a scary crime scene like this at all. This is a really nice complex....to have a shooting here, just a few days after what happened at UNLV, it's devastating."
Last week, a gunman opened fire on the UNLV campus, killing three.
While police said Monday's homicides were an isolated incident, Metro Lt. Robert Price did urge anyone struggling with mental health issues to seek help.
"It's the holiday season and people get depressed and sometimes suicidal," Price said. "There are people out there who are willing to talk to you. It does not have to end like this."
Price said that gunshots were not reported by anyone who lives at the complex or in the area overnight into the morning.
Confidential support from trained counselors is available by calling or texting the national suicide prevention lifeline at 988.
Individuals who speak Spanish can now connect directly to Spanish-speaking crisis counselors by calling 988 and pressing option 2, texting “AYUDA” to 988, or chatting online at 988lineadevida.org or 988Lifeline.org . To learn how to get support for mental health, drug, and alcohol issues, visit FindSupport.gov.
