Two girls returned from school Monday afternoon and found their mother and father dead from gunshot wounds inside an east Las Vegas apartment, police said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police received a 911 call from one of the daughters at about 3:30 p.m. on August 24. Officers went to the apartment on South Nellis Boulevard, attempted emergency aid and found both adults dead at the scene.
Police are investigating the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide. The parents had not been publicly identified as of Tuesday evening, and Daily Junk Food is not identifying the children.
Police say the couple had separated
LVMPD Lt. Robert Price said the husband and wife, both in their 30s, had been separated for some time.
Investigators believe the husband forced his way into the apartment and waited for his estranged wife to return. Police say he shot her when she arrived and then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
That sequence is the police department's preliminary account, not an eyewitness finding by the children or a final coroner's report. Homicide detectives are continuing the investigation.
Authorities described the shooting as an isolated domestic incident and said there was no ongoing threat to the surrounding neighborhood.
The children discovered the aftermath
The couple's daughters arrived home after school and made the discovery. Police said the girls are now in the care of a guardian.
FOX5 Las Vegas reported that officers and medical personnel responded immediately after the 911 call. The department's August 25 press-release index lists the case under the heading “Husband Shoots Wife Then Himself.”
No responsible account needs the girls' names, school, photographs or a detailed reconstruction of what they saw. Their role in the public story is limited to the fact that they came home, called for help and survived an event that will require long-term support.
An apparent murder-suicide is still investigated as a homicide
The phrase “murder-suicide” describes the working conclusion police announced after examining the scene and the couple's circumstances. Detectives still collect evidence, establish a timeline, speak with relatives and neighbors, and wait for the coroner to formally identify the dead and determine causes and manners of death.
That process matters even when police do not expect an arrest. It creates the official record of what happened and can reveal whether there were earlier threats, protective orders or contacts with law enforcement.
LVMPD asked anyone with information to contact its Homicide Section at 702-828-3521 or homicide@lvmpd.com. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers.
The broader context is domestic violence, but the immediate facts are painfully specific: a separated couple is dead, two children found them after school, and police believe the husband entered the wife's home to carry out the shooting.
Anyone experiencing domestic violence can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE or text START to 88788. If there is immediate danger, call 911.
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