LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Las Vegas police say a rent dispute led to a shooting that left two women dead and a man critically injured early Tuesday morning.
According to the arrest report for 79-year-old Arnoldo Lozano-Sanchez, a witness told police Arnoldo Lozano-Sanchez was angry about the occupants who rented rooms in his home not paying the rent.
Lozano-Sanchez “wanted to handle it, quote-unquote, ‘his way,’” Chief Deputy District Attorney Tim Fattig told a judge, referencing a statement by the witness.
The shooting was reported around 12:23 a.m. near The STRAT, a hotel and casino.
Lozano-Sanchez lived in the home and rented it to various people. One of the roommates, Carlos Gomez, told police he heard several gunshots and when he opened his door and looked in the hallway, he saw Lozano-Sanchez “smiling and laughing.” According to the report, Gomez said when another roommate opened their door, Lozano-Sanchez told that person “he would not be able to run from him anymore” and then there were more gunshots.
When police arrived at the house, they found one woman dead outside the home and encountered a man with nine gunshot wounds coming out of the home.
Officers found a second woman dead inside the residence after Lozano-Sanchez was taken into custody. He refused to talk with police and requested an attorney.
The names of the victims, all in their 50s, were not immediately released.
Sarah Hawkins, a deputy public defender representing Lozano-Sanchez, protested that reading a police arrest statement in court did not amount to evidence. She lost a bid to have him freed on $10,000 bail and house arrest.
The judge set Lozano-Sanchez’s next court date for Monday.
Police say they had no immediate information linking the rent dispute with a nationwide eviction moratorium that expired last week but was reinstated for areas with high transmission of COVID-19, including Nevada.
The modified ban from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention faces legal challenges and lasts until Oct 3.
Fattig told the judge that Lozano-Sanchez asked a neighbor to help him dispose of the gun, but police found it in a nearby bush.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.