A gunman in Reno, Nevada, fired shots into a pedestrian area in a shootout that eerily echoes that Las Vegas gun massacre last month. Fortunately, only the gunman was killed.
The Reno Gazette Journal reports that a gunman opened fire from inside The Montage condominium complex in downtown Reno Tuesday night, as he held an unidentified woman hostage. According to the report, he fired for roughly 30 minutes in the direction of Sierra Street, before he was shot and killed.
It is not yet known if the suspected gunman was killed by police fire or something else, but the New York Daily News reports that he was killed when the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office SWAT arrived to his condominium, which witnesses said is on the eighth floor of the building.
The shooter has not yet been identified, and has been described only as a young male in his mid-to-late twenties. Reno Police Department Deputy Police Chief Tom Robinson told the newspaper that the suspect was using a shoulder-mounted rifle and had 20 to 30 rounds of ammunition.
The police chief also said that the hostage was unharmed, but was shaken up by the ordeal. It is not known if she had any relationship to the suspect.
Witnesses who were in their apartments near the eighth floor at the time of the shooting told the Reno Gazette Journal that they heard a loud explosion sometime after the gunfire began. One woman told the newspaper that she was unsure if she should remain inside her apartment at that time, but that a police officer pounded on her door and told her to evacuate. She said the officer then guided her through a smoke-filled hallway to safety.
Records obtained by the Daily News reportedly show that Stephen Paddock, the gunman behind the Las Vegas shooting massacre on October 1, previously owned a unit in the Montage that he sold in December 2016.
It is unclear if Paddock had any relationship to the shooting suspect or any other residents of the building.
This is a developing story. CrimeOnline will provide updates when more information becomes available.
[Feature image: Associated Press]
