1 dead after altercation with knife in downtown Las Vegas

A suspect is in custody in connection with the stabbing death of another man in downtown Las Vegas in an area near homeless shelters Monday afternoon after the two had been feuding over several days.

At about 2:42 p.m., police officers were dispatched to a reported stabbing in the 1400 block of North Main Street near West Owens Avenue, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson said during a news briefing Monday evening.

Officers who arrived at the scene flagged down several security personnel and some citizens who showed them where the stabbing occurred, where the victim and suspect were, and what the suspect was wearing, Johansson said

The suspect was seen walking away from the area and heading south on Main Street, he said.

“Other officers then responded to where the victim was located at, on the east sidewalk on Main Street, and they noticed that he did appear to have several stab wounds,” he said.

The officers administered first aid to the victim who was taken to University Medical Center where “after several measures were taken, he was pronounced deceased,” he said.

Homicide detectives took over the scene and determined that both victim and suspect are men in their 30s, he said.

The pair had a dispute “that has been going on for several days is what it sounds like,” he said.

The confrontation “turned into a physical altercation for both of them, got involved in an argument that started on the sidewalk and then spilled out on the streets and it was during that physical altercation that the suspect then removed a knife and stabbed our victim.”

The suspect afterward followed the victim toward the sidewalk and then threw the knife into a storm drain that was not yet recovered as of Monday night, he said.

Police arrested the suspect, who has not been publicly identified, after seeing him try to leave on foot, he said.

They interviewed witnesses and are searching the area for any additional video footage pertaining to the stabbing, he said.

The 1400 block of Main Street was closed at Owens and expected to remain closed for several hours Monday evening, he said.

The area where the stabbing occurred is “where a lot of the charities are for the unhoused community,” he said. “Both suspect and victim both appear to be unhoused individuals and some of the citizens that flagged us down are unhoused.”

Johansson said that the department’s homeless outreach program in the area has made inroads with that community and cooperation from some individuals there aided in the fast response by police to the stabbing.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X. Review-Journal digital content producer Taylor Lane contributed to this report.