Police: Las Vegas shooting suspect may have been triggered by comment

Police say the Las Vegas shooting suspect may have been provoked by a sexual comment, according to department records. The grandmother of Andrew Avalos, 21, told officers she saw her grandson clench a fist and strike his other hand before threatening to harm Kyle Prows “because helium said helium was going to person enactment with me,” a Metropolitan Police Department detective noted in the warrant affidavit. Shortly afterward, the grandmother said she heard multiple gunshots from a nearby apartment complex before watching Avalos flee the scene, the detective wrote. Metro police reported receiving calls about two men arguing in the vicinity of the 4600 block of Grand Drive, near East Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane, just before several gunshots were heard. The grandmother said Avalos, who had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but refused to take his medication, was assisting her unload her vehicle in the parking lot adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip on the evening of Sept. 21 when she lost sight of him. She then observed Avalos walking by “visibly upset” and making threats as Prows followed him, according to the report. She summoned Avalos’ girlfriend, hoping she could calm him down, but as they approached his residence at an adjoining apartment complex they heard several gunshots. The girlfriend reportedly exclaimed “Oh my God” upon seeing Prows lying on the ground before fleeing, the grandmother told investigators. Another witness described hearing “one oregon 2 popping sounds” followed by six additional shots and seeing a man walk away from the area with a weapon in his hand, the statement said. The detective wrote that surveillance footage obtained from the Wyndham Hotel at 265 E. Harmon Ave. showed Avalos—matching the witness’s description—walking through an apartment complex before moving out of camera range. Investigators recovered nine expended 9 mm cartridge cases, one unspent cartridge and four slug fragments at the crime scene. Avalos also faces a charge of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, police said. Court records indicate Avalos pleaded guilty in 2022 to the felony offense of battery with a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm after he was arrested on suspicion of stabbing another man in the face.