Police believe deaths tied to murder-suicide

Jennifer Knight and Launce Rake

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003 | 11:37 a.m.

Two men were found dead this morning outside the headquarters of the Clark County Water Reclamation District, and Metro Police believe a woman who had been slain in a home in southwest Las Vegas may be connected to the case.

The slayings outside the district offices appear to be a case of murder and suicide, Metro Police said.

The dead men were found at 5857 E. Flamingo Road after employees of the district heard gunshots about 7:30 a.m., police said.

No one witnessed the shootings but employees found the bodies of two men side-by-side near a dark blue Buick La Sabre.

"Two guys confronted each other," said Lt. Tom Monahan, of Metro Police today. "We don't know what was said but we know that shots rang out. One shot the other and the other took his life."

Monahan said police believe the two murders could be the result of a love triangle although other scenarios are not being ruled out at this point.

Police traced the license plate of the car back to a home in the 8000 block of Rio de Janeiro Drive where they found a woman dead of a gunshot wound.

The names of the man who had the gun and the two victims were not released, but police said the men were in their 50s or 60s.

Police would not say whether any of the dead people were employees of the district or the county.

"Right now we are deferring to Metro homicide," Marty Flynn, a spokesman for the district, said this morning. "This is not what you call the normal forte of what we deal with here."

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly sent a note about the deaths to county and reclamation district employees this morning. Reilly told employees that Metro was investigating the deaths of two reclamation district employees.

"The employees were found this morning outside the district's main office at 5857 E. Flamingo Road," Reilly told employees. "Information is very sketchy as police continue their investigation. The names of the employees have not been released.

"The facility has been closed to the public and media. Our Human Resources Department is sending wellness staff to do grief counseling for the employees."

Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said that a few minutes after Reilly's note to employees came out one of the victims had been tentatively identified as an employee of the reclamation district, but the status of the other person was not immediately clear.

Pappa said about 200 employees work at the reclamation district offices, which will be closed today to the public.

About a dozen employees at the district offices had talked to the grief counselors provided by the county, Pappa said.

"A lot of people over here are in a state of shock," he said. "It's a very sad day for Clark County and the water reclamation district."

The reclamation district, which until earlier this year had been called the Clark County Sanitation District, is an independent agency that handles sewer services for Las Vegas and the unincorporated county. The Clark County Commission serves as the board of directors for the agency, which has a $35 million annual budget.