Las Vegas strip shooting leaves 3 dead, strip closed

Three people were killed after a gunfight and a car accident along the Las Vegas strip in Nevada on Thursday, police said. (Credit: CNN)

LAS VEGAS (CNN) — Three people were killed and at least three others injured in a shooting and fiery six-vehicle crash along the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada early Thursday, police said.

The incident began about 4:20 a.m. when someone in an SUV — stopped at a stoplight on Las Vegas Boulevard near Caesars Palace and a number of other casinos — fired into a Maserati that also had stopped at the light, Las Vegas police said.

The Maserati moved into the intersection with Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, starting a chain of crashes that involved four other vehicles, police said.

Fire swept through the cab, where the driver and a passenger were trapped. The cab’s two occupants and the Maserati’s driver died, Las Vegas Police spokesman Jose Hernandez said.

A passenger in the Maserati suffered gunshot wounds and was being treated at a hospital, police said. At least two other people in the other crashed vehicles suffered light to moderate injuries, they said.

John Lamb, who was inside Caesars Palace, told CNN affiliate KLAS he heard the commotion and saw the cab on fire from a window.

“There was a loud bang, and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace … and could see the fireball,” he told KLAS.

Police are looking for the occupants of the SUV, described as a black Range Rover Sport with tinted windows, large black rims and a dealer license plate not from Nevada, said Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan.

Hernandez said he didn’t have information on what led to the shooting. The names of the dead and the injured were not immediately released.