Gunman who fired shots from high-rise condo in downtown Reno is dead, authorities say

Law enforcement block downtown Reno streets during an active shooter response at the Montage apartment building, Nov. 28, 2017. (Andy Barron / The Reno Gazette-Journal)

Associated Press
Los Angeles

A gunman with a hostage opened fire from the eighth floor of a luxury high-rise condominium in Reno onto the streets below, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

The man died Tuesday night after a SWAT team descended on him while he was barricaded at the Montage condo complex, Reno Police Deputy Chief Tom Robinson told reporters. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he was killed by police gunfire or his own. No one else, including the hostage, was hurt.

The gunman’s name has not been released. Robinson described him only as a young adult.

The luxury high-rise is surrounded by some of downtown Reno’s most popular casinos, and the gunfire brought eerie echoes of the Las Vegas shooting two months earlier that killed 58 people and injured hundreds more.

During Tuesday’s attack, the Reno streets were mostly empty on a cold weeknight.

Stephen Paddock, the man who opened fire Oct. 1 from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas onto an outdoor concert below, had owned a unit at the Montage. Records show he sold the property in December 2016.

“When you heard it’s coming from above, it reminds you of the guy shooting from Mandalay Bay,” said Mike Pavicich, who was in town on business from Las Vegas and was standing atop a parking garage at the neighboring Eldorado Resort Casino when the shots rang out.

“It’s scary, you know?” Pavicich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “This is the same kind of town.”

The Montage building was once a casino before it was converted into luxury condos, according to its website.

Trooper Chris Kelley of the Nevada Highway Patrol told the Reno Gazette-Journal that shots were heard from the building for at least 20 minutes, and TV news reporters said they heard several shots after arriving, though the shots were sporadic, not constant.

Paddock modified an AR-15 rifle to loose a stream of constant bullets like an automatic weapon in the attack in Las Vegas, which is 350 miles southeast.

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-reno-shooting-20171128-story.html