Arrest made in Fashion Show shooting on Las Vegas Strip
An 18-year-old man faces three felony charges of attempted murder after a shooting Tuesday night at the Fashion Show mall that left three people injured.
Metropolitan Police Department gang detectives identified the suspect as Christopher Valenzuela-Olivas, police said in a statement Wednesday.
Police initially identified him as 19. Further information about the arrest was not immediately available.
Detectives determined that Valenzuela-Olivas and an acquaintance were arguing with someone as they walked through the mall Tuesday night. The 18-year-old was about the leave the mall when he took out a handgun and shot the person he was arguing with multiple times and “two innocent bystanders,” police said.
Valenzuela-Olivas and his acquaintance then ran from the mall before officers arrived, police said.
The major violators unit and repeat offender program arrested Valenzuela-Olivas on Wednesday, police said. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center without bail, court records show.
He is due in court Thursday morning.
Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas Justice Court records do not indicate if Valenzuela-Olivas has been previously arrested in Clark County.
Metro spokesman Larry Hadfield said Wednesday that police are still searching for the person who fled the mall with Valenzuela-Olivas. It was unclear if that person would face charges.
The Clark County School District Police Department confirmed Wednesday that the department is helping Las Vegas police with the investigation.
School police Sgt. Bryan Zink said Wednesday that his department is commonly asked to helpwhen juveniles are believed to be involved.
Las Vegas police have not released more information about the shooting or those who were shot, including their ages and their possible roles in the shooting, which police previously said erupted around 6:15 p.m. after a fight among a group of people had escalated inside the mall at 3200 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
Capt. Dori Koren of Metro’s Convention Center Area Command described the mall shooting as an “isolated incident” and not a case of an active shooter.
The three shooting victims were taken to University Medical Center with survivable injuries.
The gunshots sent shoppers into a panic and prompted a large police presence on the Strip, where a mass shooting at a country music festival in 2017 left 58 dead.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
