Three die on violent weekend

It was a violent weekend in Clark County, beginning Friday night with the suspicious death of a North Las Vegas man and ending Sunday with a shoot-out that left one man dead and another seriously wounded.

In all, three men died from either strangulation, gunshots or other means.

Sunday was especially violent, with one man apparently strangled in an incident unrelated to the shooting death.

Metro Police homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning said Sunday's shooting occurred at about 12:30 p.m. in the area of Desert Inn Road and Arville Street, with occupants of a car and a pickup truck exchanging gunfire.

Minutes after the shooting a pickup truck pulled into the front entrance of the Gold Coast hotel-casino.

The driver, who had been shot, requested help and was transported to University Medical Center.

A passenger in the pickup was dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.

A second passenger left the scene before he could be questioned, Manning said.

Manning said handguns and controlled drugs were found inside the pickup.

The identities of the three men were not released.

Earlier in the day, shortly before 6 a.m., an unidentified Hispanic male in his late 30s to early 40s was found strangled in an apartment in the 100 block of Albert Avenue.

Homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner said police responded to an emergency call about several men fighting in the apartment.

According to Hefner the caller reported that a male acquaintance had threatened him with a knife and demanded money when another male acquaintance hit the individual making the threats in the head with a beer bottle, knocking him unconscious.

However, an autopsy determined strangulation was the cause of death, Hefner said.

There have been no arrests.

Hefner said the dead man stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 163 pounds and was wearing black shoes, black pants and a black short sleeve shirt. He also had a maroon-colored tote bag containing clothing and an Arizona identification card that appeared to be fake.

Friday night North Las Vegas Police found a man in an apartment in the 2000 block of Crawford Street bleeding to death from an unspecified wound.

The victim was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.

Police Lt. Mike Blackwell said seven men found inside the victim's apartment were questioned but no arrests were made.

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