Two inmates killed in Nevada prison fight Tuesday identified

The Nevada Department of Corrections have identified two of the three inmates who died Tuesday morning in an apparent gang-related fight at the Ely State Prison in central Nevada.

The two deceased are Zackaria Luz, 43, and Connor Brown, 22, officials said today in a news release. The identity of the third victim has yet to be released, pending family notification.

The White Pine County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a fight with multiple injuries at the prison just before 9:45 a.m. Tuesday and dispatched medical personnel to the facility, officials said.

Additionally, nine offenders were injured, the department of corrections said. Some of the injured were life-flighted to hospitals outside of the area. No correctional officers were injured during the fight, officials said.

The two identified deceased were members of the Aryan Warriors, according to court records.

The fight was caused by members of two separate gangs being put in the same area of the prison: the white-supremacist Aryan Warriors and the Sureños, sources told the Sun.

Luz, who was considered a high-ranking member of the Aryan Warriors, was eight months into a seven- to 18-year racketeering sentence. Brown was serving a seven- to 20-year sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon.

An additional death was reported Tuesday at Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in North Las Vegas, according to online records, bringing the total number of inmates who died in Nevada prisons to 22 in 2024.