Shooting in Las Vegas

[Content Note: Guns; violence; death; self-harm; white supremacy.]

Two shooters, a man and a woman who are thought to have been a married couple in their 20s, killed two police officers in a pizza parlor and a woman in a Wal-Mart before killing themselves, in Las Vegas last night.

Details are sketchy, but Metropolitan Police Department sources close to the investigation say the shooters shouted that "this is the start of a revolution" before opening fire on the officers, and draped their bodies with cloth showing a Revolutionary War-era flag. Investigators have also found paraphernalia associated with white supremacists.

Sunday night, Metro homicide investigators and FBI agents cordoned off and were searching a small apartment complex at 110 S. Bruce St., about four miles from the shooting scene. A resident of the complex said he had spoken with a man who lived in the apartment being searched. He said the man appeared "militant," and often talked about conspiracy theories.

An explosion was heard at the apartment complex at about 9:30 p.m., but no information was immediately available Sunday night.

Sheriff Doug Gillespie said officers Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31, were shot while they ate lunch at CiCi's Pizza, 309 N. Nellis Blvd., at about 11:20 a.m. Sunday. In a late afternoon news conference he said no motive for the attack has been determined.

...[After killing them, the shooters] then stripped the officers of their weapons and ammunition and badges, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. They then covered the officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words, "Don't tread on Me."

...The shooters were a married couple thought to be in their late 20s who were new to the Las Vegas Valley, according to a law enforcement official close to the investigation. Police are looking into their links to the white supremacy movement and found swastika symbols during their initial investigation.

...[Neighbors] described them as "militant." They talked about planning to kill police officers, "going underground" and not coming out until the time was right to kill.

It's tough to use "crazy lone gunmen" theories for a spree-killing team, so the emergent story to divorce this act of violence from its evident roots in white supremacist, anti-state ideology is that the couple were meth users.

My condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the three people who were killed, and I hope the survivors have the support and resources they need to recover from this trauma.