One man was killed and two were wounded in a shooting in the 2600 block of Elm Avenue near U.S. Highway 95 and Eastern Avenue this morning.
Two of the victims were in stable condition at University Medical Center. Las Vegas police said the three victims are in their early 20s.
The dead man, identified as Francisco Alvarez, 26, was found about a mile from the shooting, sitting alone in the passenger seat of a blue Toyota 4Runner parked in the driveway of his home at 912 Webb Ave. near Eastern and Owens Avenue in North Las Vegas.
The 4Runner is owned by Alvarez, his family confirmed. He shares the Webb Street home with his sister and brother-in-law.
A resident at the corner of Alvin Street and Elm said she was awakened by gunshots around 4:45 a.m.
The 4Runner had crashed into the chain-link fence across her driveway and was stalled. The driver of the truck had been shot and the passenger switched seats with the injured driver, she said.
“I told him to wait, because we’d already called police, and there was a fire truck right down the street,” she said. “But he just said, ‘Call the police,’ and left.”
She didn’t see another car, but earlier her son had seen a blue or purple four-door car in pursuit of the truck. A passenger from the car fired several shots at the 4Runner and fled the scene, he said.
There was no description of the suspects, but the resident said the victims were all Hispanic. She said there are bullet holes in the side of her house, and she believes the victims might have returned fire.
“That would be the only way I’d get it (bullet holes) in mine (house),” she said. “The other (suspects’) car was facing the other way.”
According to police, the three victims were returning from a nightclub, possibly with women, when they were approached by an unknown number of suspects. Police said they don’t believe the shooting to be gang related.
The resident at Alvin and Elm said she heard women screaming after the gunshots were fired, but didn’t see women with the victims.
Steve Sledge, 47, lives a few blocks from the shooting. He investigated the scene to make sure his friends were OK.
“This area is kind of bad,” he said. “There’s lots of drug activity. I stay in my home most of the time.”
Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.
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