Suspect dead after shootings near Las Vegas killed 5 people and injured a teenager, police say

RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

19 mins ago

North Las Vegas police investigate the scene of Monday night’s shooting at an apartment complex in North Las Vegas, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Authorities have arrested a man suspected of shooting at apartments outside Las Vegas on Monday night that left five people dead and a 13-year-old girl seriously injured. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man who shot and killed five people and critically injured a 13-year-old girl in a Las Vegas-area apartment committed suicide, authorities said Tuesday.

North Las Vegas police said the suspected shooter, 57-year-old Eric Adams, took his own life Tuesday morning when he was attacked by police in a residential area. Authorities had been searching for him in various residential units since the shootings Monday evening.

Efforts to locate Adams’ relatives for comment were not immediately successful.

Police initially said they found two women dead while investigating reports of a shooting late Monday at a North Las Vegas apartment. One of the two was in her early 40s and the other in her late 50s, police said.

During the investigation, officers learned that a juvenile had been taken to the hospital with life-threatening gunshot wounds and that there may be additional victims in a nearby apartment, the department said.

Then officers found the bodies of two women in their mid-20s and a man in his early 20s. All five victims had been shot, police said. They could not be immediately identified.

The discovery led to a nighttime search for Adams, whom authorities described as “armed and dangerous.”

Shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday, police learned that the suspect had been seen at a store in North Las Vegas.

When officers arrived on scene, they saw the suspect running into the backyard of a nearby home with a firearm. Police said officers followed him, but the suspect refused to drop his weapon and committed suicide.

Police have not released a motive for the shootings, which were described as an “isolated incident.” A police department spokesman did not respond to phone and email requests for more information Tuesday.

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This article has been updated to correct the spelling of the suspect’s first name: “Eric,” not “Erick,” as originally reported by police.