Argument led to fatal shooting, suspect told Las Vegas police

A suspect in a deadly shooting from April 20 told police that he shot a man after an argument, according to police documents.

John V. Kelley, 42, told homicide detectives that he shot Mark Salazar, 46, once in the chest at an apartment complex laundry room on the 3700 block of Hazelwood Street, near Twain Avenue and Swenson Street, according to his Metropolitan Police Department arrest report. Officers found Salazar’s body in a nearby alley shortly after 9:20 p.m.

“Kelley was remorseful for his actions as he wept during the interview,” the report said.

Police booked Kelley into Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder and three unrelated charges.

Another suspect in Salazar’s death, Gonzalo Rivera, previously had told police someone else pulled the trigger. He said he tried to clean up the scene, took Salazar’s cellphone and carried a blood-soaked T-shirt to his car before officers arrived.

Interviews with Rivera and Kelley — plus security footage — helped identify Kelley as a second suspect, the report said.

Salazar arrived at the laundry room shortly after Kelley and Rivera, and Kelley shot Salazar after an argument, Kelley told detectives.

“Kelley turned the gun in Gonzalo’s direction and directed him to clean up the crime scene and dispose of the evidence,” according to an interview with Rivera noted in the report.

Rivera added that he and Kelley removed Salazar’s body from the laundry room and left in separate vehicles, the report said.

Salazar’s death was the 62nd homicide investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department this year, and the 43rd shooting death, Las Vegas Review-Journal records show.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.