A heartbroken New Mexico man can’t understand why a North Las Vegas, Nevada, man killed three of his family members and left his 13-year-old granddaughter in critical condition this week in a “senseless” shooting.
Sal Muñoz, 59, of Albuquerque, made the nearly 600-mile drive to the Las Vegas Valley Tuesday morning after hearing that someone had fatally shot his ex-wife, daughter and grandson and seriously injured his granddaughter Monday evening at an apartment complex.
Police identified the suspect as Eric Adams, 47, who died by suicide Tuesday morning when authorities closed in on him during a search, officials said.
“It’s just very painful,” Muñoz told NBC News late Wednesday afternoon. “A senseless act. He goes into someone’s house and starts shooting people.”
Muñoz said his ex-wife, Damiana “Anna” Muñoz, 59; his daughter, Amy Muñoz, 40; and his grandson, Christopher Damian, in his early twenties; were killed in the shooting and that his 13-year-old granddaughter, Olivia Muñoz, was seriously injured. Authorities have not officially released the names of Muñoz’s relatives.
The Clark County coroner’s office said Wednesday evening that 24-year-old Kayla Harris died of injuries to her head, neck and chest.
Another woman who died in the rampage has not been publicly identified.
The Las Vegas Police Force Investigation Team is assisting in the investigation, North Las Vegas police said.
North Las Vegas police said officers initially responded to an apartment complex shortly after 10 p.m. Monday and found two injured women in their early 40s and late 50s, who were later pronounced dead. Police said an injured 13-year-old girl was also in the apartment.
Muñoz said the apartment belonged to his ex-wife, who lived above Adams, with whom she sometimes drove to the bus stop so he could go to work.
He said his 16-year-old son told him he was also in the apartment when the shooting started, but that the shooter did not know he was inside. The teen was not injured.
At a nearby apartment, officials discovered two other women in their mid-20s and a man in his early 20s who had been shot, police said.
“It’s very, very painful,” Muñoz said. ‘I’m not sure what was going on [Adams’] mind.”
Officials in North Las Vegas declined to provide additional comment Wednesday evening.
Muñoz said his son shared an account of how the violence unfolded Monday night: Shortly before the shooting, Muñoz said, his grandson, Damian, received a phone call from Adams’ girlfriend’s daughter, telling him to come downstairs and play video games.
Two people were dead when Damian arrived, and then Damian was shot, Muñoz said his son told him.
Damian’s mother went downstairs to check on her son and told Adams she was going to call the police, Muñoz said. Adams followed her upstairs, according to Muñoz, and he fatally shot Muñoz’s daughter and ex-wife and wounded his granddaughter.
Muñoz struggled to find the words to describe his murdered relatives. He said his daughter, Amy, was about to become a professional respiratory therapist.
“I’m still grieving. I don’t want them in my life anymore,” he said.
Bobbie Anne Adams told NBC News on Wednesday that her son, Eric, went to church and tried to live a positive life. Adams, who had six children, did odd jobs, was a good singer and made the family laugh at reunions, she said.
“I don’t wear what happened that night like a trophy. But he loved his family, his mother and his children,” she said. “He wasn’t perfect, but he was still my son.”
Adams had a criminal history dating back decades, and in February he was charged with domestic battery by strangulation, according to NBC affiliate KSNV from Las Vegas.
His previous arrests include charges of burglary with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm, trafficking in cocaine, assault on a prisoner and assault on a police officer, the station reported.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
