Three people were killed and at least three others injured on the Las Vegas Strip early this morning, when the occupants of a black Range Rover began firing into a Maserati, causing it to run a light and collide with a taxi. The crash also involved at least three other vehicles.
According to witnesses, upon collision, the taxi was transformed into a fireball, trapping the driver and his passenger inside, ultimately killing them. The driver of the Maserati was also killed and a passenger was taken to the hospital, as were two occupants of other vehicles involved in the crash.
Police say the Range Rover, which had out-of-state dealer plates and large black rims, sped away. Police are checking surveillance cameras along the Strip for more information.
The shooting began around 4:30 a.m. on the mostly deserted Strip, and continued as the cars approached the popular intersection of Flamingo and Las Vegas boulevards.
The intersection will be closed for most of the day, said Sgt. John Sheahan of the Las Vegas Police Department.
“It’s a mess down there,” he told reporters. “We’ll be lucky to have this intersection cleared by sundown.”
A local TV station interviewed a witness who said he rushed to the Maserati moments after the crash and found the driver still alive.
“The Range Rover shot at the Maserati,” one witness told local television. “There was a big explosion with three other cars. I ran over to help the dude in the Maserati, to give him CPR. He was still breathing. Then the ambulance came. I don’t think he made it.”
According to authorities, the intersection is the Strip’s busiest, the location of the Bellagio and the Paris hotels and Caesars Palace. The intersection was littered with smashed cars pointing in different directions.
This was the third incident of violence on the Strip this year: Two people were critically wounded in a shooting at a parking garage on Feb. 6, and a tourist was stabbed in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay on Feb. 16.
