2 dead after shooting on LVAC; Suspicious shooter killed – video | Murders

The hectic gymnastur ran for their lives when a man shot four people in a fitness center in West Las Vegas Valley, killed one and injured three on Friday afternoon. The shooter was then shot by police officers in Las Vegas.

The 20 -year -old Gary Steward and Liam Johnson (19) from Las Vegas were on their way to the Las Vegas Athletic Club's gym 1725 N. Rainbow Blvd. near West -Lake Mead Boulevard, just before the shootout took place around 1:30 p.m. when they stopped in a nutritional business.

“This basically saved our life,” said Steward. “If we hadn't done that yet, we would have been right at the reception where this shooter came in. When we opened, balls came through and people started out.”

The men said they broke glass and found that they were going into a dangerous situation. They ran back to where they had parked.

“We thought it was a fight at first,” said Johnson. “We were like 'screwing this' and ran.”

Two of the injured victims were brought to the University Medical Center. One was in a critical condition, while the other did not suffer life -threatening injuries. Another person went to a local hospital with non -life -threatening injuries, the police said. Scott Curbs, a spokesman for UMC, said a total of four people were brought there.

The shooter was brought to UMC, where it was declared dead.

In the gym, said the police, a person was dead.

“A person armed with a weapon”

The call came shortly before 1:35 p.m. for a shootout in the 1700 block of the North Rainbow Boulevard, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. The initial shootout occurred within the LVAC, although the base of the shooter was later seen outside the building on the ground.

“The details of this call showed that a person was equipped with a weapon and shooting in the Las Vegas Athletic Club,” said Undersheriff of Metropolitan Police Department Andrew Walsh on Friday afternoon.

In a brief explanation to reporter at the crime scene, Walsh said that there was a “shootout with officer” and the suspect was shot and “no longer a threat to the public”.

In a press release, Metro said that the officials had fired shots when an armed man standing at the door out.

“The officials reacted to the scene and identified a suspect that stood at the door with a firearm,” says the press release. “The suspect ran out of the door and the officers released their firearms and hit him.”

One person was dead in the gym, said Walsh. The police would not say on Friday whether the deceased victim was an employee in the gym.

The wounded people were treated for injuries that the police believed that he came from the shooter's shooter, he said.

“There were additional victims who were treated at the time due to injuries they had at that time by the suspect and the shots that took place in the facility, and we have a person in the gym,” said Walsh.

“It was traumatizing”

Kim Hannah, an LVAC member who was in the gym at the beginning of the shootout, said she tried to help a man in the parking lot who apparently suffered a gunshot wound.

She showed the Las Vegas Review journal a video clip that she recorded from a man who was apparently turned in the back.

“It was traumatizing,” said Hannah. “This man didn't seem to know that he had been shot. I also heard a woman who screamed that her child was in the day care room and shouted other people.”

In a separate briefing around 5.15 p.m., Metro Capt said. Esmeralda Boveda, it was still too early to determine a motif. Other details, such as the weapon used by the shooter, were not published.

Neither the name of the killed person nor the name of the shooter was published on Friday.

Lansing Santana from Las Vegas was also in the gym near the Racquetball area at the beginning of the shootout. He said the shooter seemed to have a long weapon, possibly an AR-15.

“I just heard, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, so I started immediately,” said Santana. “At that time I was not afraid, but I thought I was hit at some point. I had to hug a few people in the parking lot. Men whatever. People collapsed. Someone had to be there to hug someone.”

Other witnesses who were in the gym also describe a chaotic scene.

“I was in the shower and heard what was a strange sound that turned out to be shots,” said witness Myles Blanton of Las Vegas. “And then I heard the emergency exit, the door sound.”

“Who shoots up a gym?”

Like many others, Steward and Johnson could not return to their vehicle in the parking lot of the gym – the area had been declared a crime scene – so they went to one petrol station on the other side of the street.

“It's just a strange feeling at the moment,” said Steward. “It's strange. Who shoots up a gym?”

Dawn Lewis from Las Vegas said that she was on the way to the LVAC shortly before 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon, even though she arrived after the police. She couldn't go to the gym, but stayed near the scene for a while.

“I have two safe places and this is one of them,” said Lewis via a block from the gym that she said she was visiting about six times a week. “I come here to heal what is going on in the rest of the planet. Now that happens. I just send love and light.”

Although they were all strangers, hugged Lewis Steward and Johnson, all three knew that they had lived through a shaken event.

No officials were injured, the police said, and it was not known on Friday evening when the shooter was a member of the gym.

In an explanation on Friday, an LVAC spokesman said that the company was “broken heart” due to the “terrible and traumatic event”.

“Our hearts go to everyone who was affected,” says the explanation. “We are currently working closely with the Las Vegas police department and offer you video material for the investigation. At this point, the Northwest Club will be closed and we will update it as soon as we have information about when it can be reopened.”

The spokesman said that the company was in the process of organizing mourning advice for every employee who needs.

Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @bryanhorwath on X. Contact Casey Harrison at chancison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X. or @Casey-Harrison.bsky.social on bluesky. Tony Garcia, the producer for the review journal Digital Content, contributed to this report.