Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Court: Thanksgiving shooting spree suspect incompetent to stand trial

Court records have said one of three suspects in a Thanksgiving shooting spree that killed one and injured several others was found incompetent to stand trial last week.

District Judge Christy Craig ordered Christopher McDonnell, 29, on Friday to be sent to a maximum-security psychiatric facility until doctors deem him fit to stand trial, according to online court records.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in March that McDonnell and the two other suspects, including his older brother and his newlywed wife, each face more than 50 charges in connection with the deadly shooting spree.

The suspects traveled from Tyler, Texas, to Washington, D.C., before returning west toward Las Vegas. Wolfson previously said he believes that before reaching Nevada, they planned a series of shootings, targeting 10 different locations in five separate shootings in November.

“I would compare the crime spree to a Bonnie and Clyde situation,” Wolfson previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s incredible how many people they shot at.”

Kevin Mendiola Jr., 22, of North Las Vegas was killed and three others were injured in Henderson in one of the shootings, while another four shootings occurred on roads in the city around the same time, authorities said.

Police said the group continued in the Parker, Arizona, area, where another five shootings occurred before they were arrested. An exact motive has not been released by authorities.

McDonnell, who was on parole at the time of the shootings, also faces a charge of ownership or possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.