Man shot to death after fight in North Las Vegas identified

He was Nelson Gomez-Galica of North Las Vegas, the Clark County coroner’s office said. He died of a gunshot wound to the head and his death was ruled a homicide.

Witnesses at an apartment complex on the 400 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard, near North Fifth Street, told police they were just sitting down to dinner Monday when a fight broke out in front of a building, North Las Vegas police spokesman Eric Leavitt said.

What started as a verbal confrontation between the Gomez-Galica and the shooter turned into a fistfight, Leavitt said. The shooter then left the scene and returned with a gun about 7 p.m. Gomez-Galica was shot and died at the scene.

The gunman remained at large on Thursday.

Police determined the shooting was not a random act of violence, a police release later said.

Leavitt said there were multiple witnesses because the fight and shooting took place between two apartment buildings that face each other.

SWAT initially responded to the scene because police believed the shooter might have run into one of the apartments. Teams took about three hours to clear the buildings, but the shooter wasn’t found.

“At this point we’ve got leads, and we’re working with witnesses to try and find this guy,” Leavitt said at the scene.

The man’s death marks the 21st homicide the North Las Vegas Police Department has investigated this year, and the 165th homicide investigated in Clark County.

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