‘It was terrifying’: Deadly NLV casino shooting leads to carjackings, arrest

A suspect in a killing at a hotel-casino in North Las Vegas carjacked at least three vehicles, caused multiple crashes, critically injured one person, and was arrested after a high-speed police chase that crisscrossed the valley Thursday morning, authorities said.

The North Las Vegas Police Department received calls about a shooting at the Aliante hotel-casino around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, according to a news release from the department.

When officers arrived, they found a dead man, and the suspect had fled the scene. Authorities had not yet released the name of the dead man or the name of the suspect on Thursday night.

“Upon learning the individual had left the scene, information about the incident and the suspect’s possible direction of travel was promptly shared with surrounding jurisdictions,” the release stated.

Half an hour later, Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to a crash near Spring Mountain Road and Interstate 15, Undersheriff Andrew Walsh told reporters. While they were at the scene, Walsh added, someone reported being carjacked at gunpoint within minutes of the crash.

“Officers then got the information regarding the carjacking — quickly connecting that the vehicle involved in the first accident was the suspect vehicle from the murder in North Las Vegas,” Walsh said.

The driver had fled the crash scene, Walsh said, so Metro tracked the stolen vehicle using license plate readers and spotted it driving “in and around” downtown. Officers chased the vehicle east, where another vehicle was carjacked while inside the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant.

Walsh said the suspect was traveling at upward of 105 mph before crashing into a bus stop at Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway. During the chase, police said, at least two people were injured, including one at the bus stop, who was hospitalized in critical condition.

“The speeds were just so fast we couldn’t keep up,” he said, adding that a police helicopter tracked the suspect.

‘He just kept going’

Bill Henderson, heading home from a gym, said his car was hit around 8:30 a.m. near the bus stop crash. Henderson’s car was smashed near the front driver’s side. He said everything happened “so fast.”

“He just kept going,” Henderson said, adding that his head and arms hurt after the collision. “It was terrifying.”

In the third carjacking, the suspect jumped into the back seat of another vehicle before the pursuit ended near Boulder Highway and Sahara Avenue, where the suspect was taken into custody, police said.

Emergency crews could be seen in the area assisting two women onto stretchers around 10 a.m. Meanwhile, near Boulder Highway and Flamingo Road, multiple wrecked vehicles sat in the roadway while Metro officers talked with witnesses.

Steve Grammas, president of the Las Vegas Protective Association, a union for police and corrections officers in Las Vegas, called the officers who responded to the incident Thursday “heroes” and said they performed “diligent” police work.

“These cops didn’t give up, leadership didn’t give up,” Grammas said in an Instagram video posted to the union’s account Thursday. “They said, no, this person will be caught. They knew this man had to be apprehended, so they chased him down and the subject was eventually taken into custody.”

Gaming floor blocked off

At Aliante on Thursday morning, yellow police tape had blocked off the gaming floor near the cashier’s box. Still, a handful of gamblers played at neighboring machines.

Carol Foronda, who lives nearby, stood outside a side entrance. She said she comes to the Aliante daily to gamble with her family, and when she left around 1 a.m. Thursday, everything was quiet.

“I’ve been coming since they opened,” Foronda said. “There are no problems usually, but when I saw the police car, I thought maybe something had happened.”

That morning, David Strow, a spokesperson for Boyd Gaming, declined to comment on the casino shooting and instead told reporters to contact the North Las Vegas Police Department.

A few hours later, North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown delivered her 2025 State of the City address to a crowd of hundreds at the Aliante hotel-casino. The mayor did not publicly address the homicide.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com. Review-Journal reporter Ricardo Torres-Cortez contributed to this report.