Five people were killed — including a teenage boy — during a deadly, 48-hour spate of violence in the Las Vegas Valley that began in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The violent weekend began with a woman found dead in a vehicle after a 2:34 a.m. police call on Saturday and ended with a man found dead after a 2:35 a.m. police call on Monday.
In between were two gun-related homicides after house parties, and the deaths of a man and woman in what the North Las Vegas Police Department is investigating as a murder-suicide.
Woman found dead in car
The first homicide occurred early Saturday morning when the Metropolitan Police Department found a woman shot and killed inside a vehicle near downtown Las Vegas.
Metro received a report around 2:30 a.m. of a woman shot in the 400 block of 11th Street, according to a news release. When officers arrived, they found a woman inside a vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds. The woman died at the scene, police said.
Metro later learned that the woman and a friend were sitting in the vehicle talking when two men walked past them. Moments later, shots were fired, striking the victim, according to police.
Possible murder-suicide
Later that night, what began as calls about a house fire became an investigation of a murder-suicide, according to the North Las Vegas Police Department.
The North Las Vegas Fire Department responded to calls about a fire at a home on the 3100 block of Bartlett Avenue around 8:20 p.m. Saturday, police said in a press release.
The Fire Department then called for police assistance after finding a woman who was dead and a man with “life-threatening injuries.” The man was taken to UMC Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
North Las Vegas detectives and North Las Vegas Fire arson investigators are “investigating this incident as a murder and suicide,” according to the press release, as they “believe the two victims were known to each other.”
Two party-related homicides
Two separate parties also ended in homicides.
Residents of a home in the 2100 block of Naco Court woke up on Sunday to find a woman dead in one of their bedrooms, Metro homicide Lt. Robert Price said during a briefing Sunday evening.
Las Vegas police had received a call at 3:50 p.m. Sunday from someone who said he found a body in one of the bedrooms at his home.
A party had been held at the home the night prior. The residents told police they did not know the woman who died, Price said.
The woman in her 20s suffered gunshot wounds, according to Price.
A second party-related shooting occurred in the northeast valley, where a teenage boy was shot and killed while walking home from a party Sunday night, according to Metro.
Metro arrested Damian Delgado, 18, who was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of open murder. Police suspect that Delgado and other men had followed the victim home from the party and that Delgado shot the victim before leaving with the others.
Metro received multiple reports around 8:23 p.m. of a person shot in the 4700 block of Corsaire Avenue. Arriving officers found the teenager suffering from gunshot wounds. He died at the scene, police said.
Man found dead
Early Monday morning, a man was found dead near a local business complex, according to Metro.
The call originally came in at 2:42 a.m. as an attempted suicide, but the homicide section was requested to the scene and identified Joshua Martinez, 19, as the suspect, Metro said in a press release Monday evening.
Martinez was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of open murder.
Despite efforts to save his life, the victim, who police said suffered a gunshot wound, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6800 block of North Durango Drive, Metro Lt. Steve Riback told reporters in a news conference.
On the scene where Riback held a news conference about the event, yellow police tape could be seen surrounding a Walgreens parking lot. The pharmacy was “closed temporarily due to an emergency,” according to a representative reached by phone.
If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social. Review-Journal staff reporter Akiya Dillon contributed to this report. Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.