Las Vegas Shooting Leaves 5 Dead, Including 2 Officers With Young Families
Five people are dead after a shooting spree in Las Vegas Sunday; two police officers were killed in the line of duty, as was an innocent bystander. The killers, a man and woman, then turned the guns on themselves in a suicide pact.
Officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo were shot at approximately 11:20 a.m. while they were having lunch. The assailants then fled across the street to a nearby Walmart and shot an innocent bystander in the entrance to the store. By this time, officers responded to the shootings and exchanged gunfire with the killers. In a final act, police believe that the female shooter killed her male partner before then killing herself.
"This is a revolution!" some witnesses reportedly heard the couple say before opening fire on the police officers, but that could not be confirmed. The Daily Mail reported that the couple, identified only as Jared and Amanda, then placed a "Don't Tread on Me" flag across the fallen officers' bodies.
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"We saw when the man was walking, he was shouting, yelling bad words, and suddenly he had a gun," eyewitness Pauline Pacheco told KLAS. "It was terrible, it was terrible. That man was crazy."
The shooting has greatly affected the policemen and policewomen in the Las Vegas area. Beck and Soldo had been with the force for some time and both left behind families with children.
"It is truly a tragic day here in the Las Vegas valley," Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters at a news conference. "We have lost two officers with young families. My officers were simply having lunch. We still have a community to police and a community to protect. We will be out there doing it with our heads held high but an emptiness in our hearts."
"I am devastated by the news today of two officers and an innocent bystander who were murdered in an act of senseless violence," Governor Brian Sandoval said in an official statement. "My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. I am receiving regular updates with regard to this tragedy and local and state law enforcement are assisting at the scene."
