Las Vegas (AP) – Two individuals tragically lost their lives in a weekend shooting. According to police reports, the incident near the Las Vegas strip was captured on video and streamed live to a shared YouTube channel.
The victims, married and identified by the Clark County Coroner’s office, are 43-year-old Tanisha Finley and 44-year-old Rodney Finley. Both succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.
Authorities stated that the shooting near the iconic Bellagio Fountain on Sunday night was an isolated confrontation between the victims and the suspect, who had been feuding on social media since at least 2023. The suspect, Manuel D. Lewis, surrendered to police at a station outside Las Vegas on Monday morning.
Lewis, 41, faces charges of two counts of open murder with a deadly weapon and is currently being held without bail, as indicated by prison records.
The Associated Press reached out via email on Thursday for comments from his public defender. According to the arrest report, Lewis spoke to police following his capture.
The suspect was visible in the live stream video, drawing a gun from his waistband, raising it, and initially firing five or six shots. After Tanisha Finley is seen grabbing the phone used for the live stream, one or two additional gunshots can be heard in the video.
“The phone fell to the ground and remained there for some time until officers came into view and disabled the live stream,” the report stated.
The couple’s son was among the 911 callers who reported the shooting, Reported by Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I heard gunshots around him,” he stated. “He might have been shot, so I was just trying to check on him.
In a police interview following his surrender, the suspect mentioned having a YouTube channel and that he was live streaming from the strip the night of the shooting. Reports indicate that Lewis claimed he opened fire because one of the victims seemed to be reaching for a weapon.
Authorities found no firearms on the victims.
The shooting took place on one of the busiest sections of the strip, where the dancing Bellagio Fountain shoots water up to 460 feet (140 meters) and performs every 15 minutes between 8 PM and midnight on weekends.
Source: apnews.com