North Las Vegas police investigating homicide near Friday’s triple shooting

The two men never stepped outside the walls of that small stucco fourplex again.

Twice in just over 24 hours, North Las Vegas homicide detectives surrounded 2500 Ellis St., a fourplex tucked away in a neighborhood lined with identical multifamily homes near East Carey Avenue. Separate shootings Friday and Saturday thought to be related claimed the lives of two men and injured a 13-year-old boy and 20-year-old man, police said.

Homicide detectives were first called to Ellis Street about 5:15 a.m. Friday, when gunfire erupted in the rear apartment unit of the beige fourplex. The suspected shooter was gone before officers arrived, police said, leaving one man dead at the scene and the two surviving victims suffering gunshot wounds. The teen and the 20-year-old are expected to survive.

By Friday evening, detectives had packed up and left the neighborhood without having identified a suspect. The next morning, they would wake up to the news of another fatal shooting inside that same residence.

Just before 7 a.m. Saturday, a resident in a neighboring unit of the fourplex found a 26-year-old man dead inside the rear apartment. That person was being interviewed by detectives Saturday afternoon, according to police spokesman Aaron Patty.

Investigators on Saturday still had little information, Patty said at the scene as he stood in the same spot he had addressed reporters early Friday. Leftover yellow crime scene tape from the day before was still wrapped around a nearby light pole.

Patty, with his back against the tape, said that detectives early on believed that one suspect was responsible for Saturday’s slaying, but that it wasn’t immediately clear whether that suspect also was responsible for the triple shooting on Friday. He said that the department also is exploring whether Saturday’s shooting may have been in retaliation to Friday’s killing.

“This is an active and fluid investigation for us right now,” he said, struggling to speak over turbulent afternoon winds. “But right off the bat we do believe this is related to yesterday’s homicide.”

Witnesses to Friday’s shooting reported hearing gunshots in the back apartment, but well into the investigation Saturday, Patty said that the department did not “have anybody that heard anything this morning.”

While investigators were on the scene Friday, neighborhood residents were spilling out of their homes to peer into the stretch of Ellis Street marked by crime tape. But on Saturday morning, the neighborhood was quiet with only police and reporters standing near the scene.

“We just want to ask people in this area to remain calm,” Patty said. “Obviously we believe this is an isolated event and not random acts of violence. Because of the amount of people we had involved yesterday coupled with what happened this morning, we believe that there are multiple people that have information that can help detectives.”

He asked that anyone with information call North Las Vegas police at 702-633-9111 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

“We understand people may have reservations or fear of retaliation, so if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers,” Patty said.

The slayings on Friday and Saturday marked North Las Vegas police’s 12th and 13th homicide investigations this year. The two men will be identified by the Clark County coroner’s office once their families have been notified.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.