By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released a statement, last week, updating the facts surrounding a shooting that occurred at the Green Valley Grocery, in Logandale, on January 29.
During this incident, a store employee was approached and shot as he was performing maintenance duties outside the store near the car wash bay.
The shooter had inquired about a Smith’s grocery store in town. The employee replied that there was not a Smith’s in Moapa Valley and that Lin’s was closed. At that point, shots were fired. One of them hit the store employee in the arm. The shooter was last seen speeding north towards the interstate. The injury was non-life-threatening.
At the time, police felt that this was a solitary incident. But last week’s statement had Metro Police tying this incident to three others that happened in Las Vegas, two of which occurred later that same morning and one more that occurred on February 2.
The Logandale incident occurred first. But surveillance video of the vehicle from the local store’s camera footage of the incident indicates that it was the same vehicle involved in the later shootings.
The report issued by Metro states that the Logandale incident is tied to a second incident occurring at about 3:06 am. Officers were dispatched to the 2900 block of W. Washington Street where they found an unresponsive man suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives within LVMPD Homicide Section determined that the man had been sleeping outside of a business when an unidentified suspect walked up and shot him. The suspect fled before the officers arrived.
The report further stated that a third incident occurred at 7:15am the same morning when LVMPD officers were notified of a homeless man taken to UMC Trauma with a gunshot wound to the head. The victim was transported from the area around Veteran’s Memorial Drive and East Washington Avenue in Las Vegas.
The man survived the wound and, after an investigation, officers determined that these two Las Vegas incidents were related.
The report also details a fourth incident that occurred on February 2, that LVMPD feels is connected. Officers were dispatched to the area of North 14th Street and US-95, where a deceased victim was discovered under a bridge. Video surveillance of the area shows the suspect approaching the victim at about 4:16 am that morning and shooting him.
Officers have determined that all four incidents are not only related, but seem to involve the same suspect and the same vehicle. The suspect is described as a white or Hispanic adult male who is approximately 6 feet tall. He was driving a 2016-18 Hyundai Tucson, Sport Limited SUV that is silver, grey, or a lighter blue color.
Officers on the case have encouraged anyone who may have any information that could help this investigation to please come forward. Surveillance video of the suspect and the vehicle can be viewed by going to: https://youtu.be/95DoQXxGrk0.
Anyone who may have seen anything or captured other surveillance footage of the vehicle or suspect is encouraged to call the LVMPD Homicide Section at 702-828-3521, or to contact them by email at homicide@lvmpd.com.
Those who wish to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555 or on the internet at www.crimestoppersofnv.com.
Police wish to remind people that tips leading directly to an arrest or indictment processed through Crime Stoppers may be eligible for a cash reward.
