LVMPD investigation ongoing

What the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) is calling a brawl between two groups of people inside the Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, Nevada has resulted in the death of one man.

The LVMPD took to Twitter on July 30 to share news of the fight, which took place at around 1:20am in the casino located on the 1900 block of South Casino Drive in the resort town of Laughlin:

According to the LVMPD, the as-yet-unnamed victim was fighting two men when he was “knocked unconscious.” Officers attending the aftermath discovered the victim in an unresponsive state on the casino floor. He was later pronounced dead at the Western Arizona Regional Medical Center.

the as-yet-unnamed victim was fighting two men when he was “knocked unconscious.”

The two men who allegedly ganged up on the victim left the scene before police arrived, with no arrests made. The LVMPD is seeking the public’s help in coming forward with additional information on the incident, which is classified as an ongoing investigation.

It falls to the Clark County Coroner’s office to issue the name of the victim and the cause and manner of his death.

Countywide violence uptick amid pandemic

In a blurry photo snap accredited to Justin Jackson, which appeared in a news report by Fox5 KVVU, a person at the center of the fight was wearing a mask. This small detail fits with an order to mask up at 12:01am on Friday, a little over an hour before the fight erupted on the Aquarius casino floor.

While masks are a constant visual reminder of the doggedness of COVID-19, casino-vicinity violence is a far deadlier symptom of the pandemic. Las Vegas has seen a marked uptick in violent crime since last year, with multiple bloody scenes playing out in casinos or in their vicinity.

Clark County Sherriff Joe Lombardo connects the rise in crime, in part, to the pandemic. The spike has seen resorts such as Encore and Wynn Las Vegas beef up their on-site security, while Wynn upped its uniformed LVMPD detail back in October.

While Friday’s fatal fight was on the casino floor, violence is also common in the car parks and hotel rooms of casinos. In late June, the LVMPD responded to a call to the Sahara Las Vegas, where a man was in critical condition after being shot in a resort hotel room.

Robbery and crimes of negligence in Vegas

Less violent incidents of crime have also made the headlines recently in Sin City. In mid-July, the LVMPD took two gamblers into custody for crimes of negligence. The first instance involved a man leaving his infant child locked in his vehicle while he went off gambling and boozing at the Bighorn Casino in North Las Vegas.

a man leaving his infant child locked in his vehicle while he went off gambling and boozing

The other case involved animal cruelty, after police charged a woman for leaving her dog in a car. It was the second occasion she had repeated the act in two weeks, after first leaving her pet in the car park of the Wild Wild West Casino.

The LVMPD is also still on the hunt for a man accused of robbing the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on June 25. The suspect, described as a Hispanic or black male, snatched a bag of money from a worker at the property before fleeing the scene.