Shooting victim identified in Thursday’s homicide near downtown Las Vegas
The Clark County Coroner has identified the man who was fatally shot after a fight near downtown Las Vegas on Thursday night.
Officers were initially responding to a call reporting gunshot wounds about 6 p.m. on the 21oo block of Ballard Drive, near Eastern Avenue and Charleston Boulevard, said Lt. Timothy Hatchett of the Metropolitan Police Department.
When officers arrived, they found Derrick Parks, 46, 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 Parks, shooting him.
The shooter, Dakuan Thomas,22, was seen leaving the area in an early-2000s black pickup truck.
Thomas was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
McGrath said the shooting may have been drug- or gang-related. Police do not believe Parks lived at the apartment complex, but McGrath said the shooter may have lived there.
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 Jessica Terrones at jterrones@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @JessATerrones on Twitter.
