LAS VEGAS — A man who opened fire at an apartment complex near Las Vegas, killing five people and injuring a 13-year-old girl, was banned from owning a firearm because of prior felony convictions, court records show.
The suspect, Eric Adams, later shot and killed himself as North Las Vegas police officers confronted him.
Police said Adams used a handgun in the shootings Monday night but they were still investigating how he obtained the weapon. Nevada law prohibits people with felony convictions from owning or possessing a gun.
''Adams should have never been in possession of a firearm,'' police spokesperson Brian Thomas said.
Adams was visiting his former girlfriend in a ground-floor apartment when they began arguing and Adams shot the woman's 24-year-old daughter and her girlfriend, killing them both. He then fatally shot a neighbor, a 20-year-old man, who had come from his second-floor apartment to help, police said.
After shooting the neighbor, police said Adams went into the upstairs unit and again opened fire, killing the neighbor's grandmother and mother and critically wounding his teen sister.
Adams then ''took his ex-girlfriend hostage" and fled in a vehicle, according to the police department. The woman was able to escape in the early-morning hours and flag down a police officer for help.
Just after 10 a.m. Tuesday, police learned that the suspect had been seen at a business in North Las Vegas, and as officers arrived in the area, they saw the suspect with a firearm, running into the backyard of a nearby home.
