Las Vegas police seek help to ID shooter in 59-year-old’s death
Las Vegas police on Thursday released surveillance video of a fatal shooting and asked the public for help identifying the shooter.
About 10:45 p.m. Aug. 19, officers were called to the 3300 block of Thom Boulevard, near Rancho Drive and Cheyenne Avenue, after report of a shooting, the Metropolitan Police Department has said. Detectives determined Steven Colburn was fatally shot when he ran from an armed man attempting to rob him and a woman he was with.
Colburn, 59, was found lying in a parking lot suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said. The Clark County coroner’s office ruled his death a homicide due to multiple gunshot wounds of the torso.
Investigators determined that Colburn and a woman were sitting in a parked car when they were approached by a man with a gun, who demanded their property.
Colburn and the woman got out of the car, and Colburn ran from the man, who then shot him, police said. The woman in the car, who has not been identified by police, was uninjured.
As of Thursday, police have not made an arrest in the case. Metro has described the shooter as a thin man who is 25 to 35 years old.
Surveillance footage released Thursday shows someone approach a small car in the background of the frame. Two people also appear to exit the car.
Colburn’s daughter, 35-year-old Samantha Colburn, told the Review-Journal that she had spent about six years searching for her father, who lost touch with his family in part because of an alcohol problem.
“I just wanted him to be in my kids’ life,” she said. “He would disappear, and of course there’s nowhere to find him.”
Samantha Colburn described herself as a “daddy’s girl” growing up. She said her father loved to ride bulls in rodeo circuits, as well as go fishing and horseback riding with his children.
She told the Review-Journal that she hopes the shooter is found.
“I hope justice is served,” she said. “I haven’t seen him in a while, but he was my dad and I loved him, and he didn’t deserve to die that way.”
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact Metro’s homicide section at 702-828-3521 or homicide@lvmpd.com. Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.