Man dies in northeast Las Vegas shooting

A man was shot dead after arguing and fighting with another man Saturday afternoon at a northeast Las Vegas strip mall.

Metropolitan Police Department officers said the man was shot in the chest just before 2 p.m. on the 3900 block of East Owens Avenue, near North Pecos Road. He died in the strip mall’s parking lot outside a grocery store.

“Unfortunately, you can say senseless violence,” homicide Lt. Dan McGrath said. “It’s probably over nothing.”

McGrath said the deceased, about 30 years old, and another man argued in the parking lot of Owens Plaza, fought inside a store and then resumed arguing in the parking lot.

It wasn’t clear what the men were arguing about or who the aggressor was in the confrontations. Regardless, he said, it didn’t appear like the shooting was in self-defense.

“Even in that case, the person’s not armed. You can’t just shoot him,” McGrath said.

The shooter arrived in the parking lot in a black Dodge Charger with tinted windows, the homicide investigator said. The shooter and the victim said something to each other, and their argument turned into a fist fight inside of Cabana Food Market. They continued arguing outside the store, and as the shooter got back behind the Charger’s wheel to leave, the deceased approached the car. The two struggled, and during the scuffle, the shooter pulled the trigger.

McGrath said it doesn’t appear the two men knew each other.

Three businesses in the plaza had security footage, and the market has cameras inside the store, McGrath said. Police had about a dozen witnesses from inside and outside the market.

The car was last seen westbound on Owens. McGrath said a woman was riding in the passenger seat, although she never left it.

McGrath described the shooter as a tall, black man, between 25 and 30 years old, who possibly had his hair in braids. McGrath said he was seen wearing a do-rag, a dark sweater, dark jeans, a gold chain and black shoes.

“We’d like to speak to him and get his side of the story,” McGrath said.

The Clark County coroner’s office will release the deceased’s identity once his family has been notified.

His death marks the 25th homicide in Clark County this year, and the 22nd investigated by Metro, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal records.

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

Review-Journal staff writer Rio Lacanlale contributed to this story.