5 Dead in Las Vegas Police Ambush

Shooters attack officers eating lunch at pizza restaurant
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 8, 2014 4:37 PM CDT
5 Dead in Las Vegas Police Ambush
Pictures of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officers Alyn Beck, left, and Igor Soldo are seen at a news conference, June 8, 2014 in Las Vegas. They were killed in an ambush while eating lunch.   (AP Photo/John Locher)

A man and a woman gunned down two Las Vegas police officers today at a pizza restaurant before killing a civilian at a Walmart and taking their own lives, police said. In an apparent ambush, the female suspect shot an officer in the back of the head as he refilled his soft drink, killing him immediately, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. She then shot the other officer as he tried to draw his pistol. The two officers are Alyn Beck, 42, and Igor Soldo, 32, officials said. No motive has been found for the attack, but witnesses say one of the assailants shouted "This is the start of a revolution" before the first shooting.

The shooters then took the officers' guns and ammunition and crossed the street to Walmart, where witnesses say shots were fired. In one version, the shooters got in a gunfight with a citizen carrying a concealed weapon. Police confirmed that a civilian just inside Walmart's front doors was shot dead. The gunfire triggered chaos inside, where people hid for cover and ran out the doors. There were "literally a thousand" witnesses to the attack, an assistant sheriff told the Las Vegas Sun. "It is a very complex, very dynamic crime scene." The female shooter then shot her accomplice, wounding him, and shot herself in the head; he also shot himself dead. Both carried big duffel bags, and the bomb squad was called in, but no word yet on what they found. The families of the dead officers are "devastated," said Sheriff Doug Gillespie. "At a moment’s notice they’ve lost their loved one." But he said that "we will work very closely with them as we move forward through the grieving process." (More Walmart stories.)

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