5-year-old’s dad shooter in Henderson triple murder-suicide
The 5-year-old boy killed in a triple-murder suicide Thursday in Henderson was shot by his father, court documents show.
The Clark County coroner’s office on Tuesday identified three victims as 5-year-old Avi Franco, 15-year-old Arias Franco and 34-year-old Selina Rowsell. The shooter was 27-year-old Michael Franco, whose death was ruled a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Clark County Family Court records show that Michael Franco was Avi’s father, according to a 2013 custody complaint. Arias Franco’s father also had the last name Franco, according to a 2009 custody complaint.
The 2009 complaint also showed that Arias Franco had a sister.
The Henderson Police Department did not confirm Roswell’s relationship with Michael Franco on Tuesday, though she was listed as the defendant in both custody complaints. The Henderson Police Department previously said Rowsell was 35 years old.
Henderson police responded about 7:30 p.m. Thursday after multiple 911 callers reported shots fired at 1146 Paradise Garden Drive, near East Paradise Hills Drive. The home was burning when officers arrived, and the four people had been shot.
The coroner’s office ruled that the deaths of Selina Rowsell, Arias Franco and Avi Franco were homicides, with Avi Franco being shot multiple times.
Henderson police Lt. Kirk Moore said Thursday that the shooting happened during a “family disturbance.” Police weren’t sure Thursday what lead to the fire and had not released further details Tuesday.
Neighbors who lived across the street from the family recalled seeing a teenage girl outside the house “screaming at the top of her lungs” on the night of the shootings.
Danielle Gehrke and Paul Gehrke said on Friday that they heard gunshots Thursday night, then saw the screaming girl run down the road. They said they also saw Michael Franco exit the house and retrieve two bags from his car before running back inside.
“It was very bizarre,” Danielle Gehrke said Friday. “He looked panicked.”
The deaths of Selina Rowsell and her two children marked the 10th, 11th and 12th homicides investigated by Henderson police this year, according to Review-Journal records.
A second murder-suicide in Henderson occurred later Thursday night, police said. Just after 11:30 p.m., officers responded to a home in the 2800 block of Via Bel Mondo Street, where they found 39-year-old Antoine Javell Hartwell and 42-year-old Nicole L. Barker dead from gunshot wounds to the head. Hartwell’s wound was self-inflicted, the coroner’s office said.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
