Las Vegas police seek help solving killings of 3 homeless men
After the third homeless person was killed this week, Las Vegas police said Friday they are working hard to solve the crimes and asked for the public’s help.
“Everybody is alarmed from the sheriff all the way down,” Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Dan McGrath said during a news conference.
Metro Capt. Robert Plummer, who oversees the department’s homicide bureau, said the valley’s homeless population is among its most vulnerable.
He and McGrath asked the community to reach out to police with any information that might help prevent another killing.
“It’s important that the community understands that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department cares about the homeless and we ask that the community care as well,” Plummer said.
McGrath said a man about 70 years old was shot dead early Friday while sleeping near 14th Street and U.S. Highway 95. His death marked the third homeless person killed this week.
About 10 a.m., police said, somebody who knew the man went to check on him and give him food. The person found the man was injured and went to a nearby apartment complex to call 911, but the man had died at the scene.
About six hours earlier, an SUV driven by a thin man circled around the homeless man, McGrath said. The thin man got out of the car about 4:15 a.m., fired twice, ran back to the car and drove off.
The man was shot in the head while sleeping under blankets.
“It’s basically an execution,” McGrath said.
Police last saw the SUV near 15th Street and Marlin Avenue. McGrath described the shooter as light-skinned, about 6 feet tall, thin, wearing “Dickie(s)-type” shorts, black high-top athletic shoes and a jacket.
The Clark County coroner’s office will release the deceased man’s identity once his family is notified.
Police are examining whether the man’s death was connected to a deadly shooting Monday morning, as there are similarities, but detectives can’t definitively link them, McGrath said.
On Monday, Brian Wayne Clegg, 51, was fatally shot about 3 a.m. while sleeping outside a central-valley swap meet at 2901 W. Washington Ave. Police are investigating the similarities between Clegg’s death and the Friday shooting.
And on Sunday, another man was found about 5:30 p.m. outside a gas station on the 4000 block of Paradise Road suffering from a stab wound to the chest. He died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. The coroner has not yet released his identity.
Police said they know of at least one other recent shooting of a homeless person that could be connected to the shooting deaths, although that person survived.
Detectives asked for anybody living near the killing sites to check their security footage for anything suspicious. Those with possible information should contact homicide detectives at 702-828-3521 or police dispatch at 311.
Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.
