Two killed in livestreamed shooting in front of Bellagio fountains

LAS VEGAS — A 41-year-old man has been arrested in a livestreamed Sunday night killing of two people in front of the Bellagio fountains on the Las Vegas Strip, a violent end to what police said was a feud instigated on social media.

Police said the suspect, Manuel Ruiz, walked into a Henderson police station and turned himself in Monday morning.

He was taken into custody and expected to be booked into the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of open murder with a deadly weapon, according to a Metropolitan Police Department news release.

‘Conflict using social media platforms’

Gunfire erupted in the 3600 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South, near the Bellagio, at about 10:40 p.m., according to Las Vegas police.

Metro officers on patrol in the area heard gunshots coming from the west side of the Strip and “immediately ran towards that gunfire and they found two victims who were lying on the sidewalk, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds,” said Undersheriff Andrew Walsh in a news briefing early Monday morning.

“Our officers rendered medical aid to both victims, but their efforts to save those victims’ lives were unsuccessful, and both victims were pronounced deceased at the scene,” Walsh said.

Walsh said at the 1:45 a.m. briefing that police knew who they were looking for, and that it appeared the suspect and one of the victims had feuded with each other in the past.

The Clark County coroner’s office is expected to release the victims’ identities. A spokesperson for MGM Resorts, which owns Bellagio, did not immediately respond to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s request for comment.

“At this point, we believe we have the suspect identified and that this is an isolated incident, knowing that the suspect and the victim had previously engaged in some type of conflict using a variety of social media platforms,” Walsh said.

A purported video of the shooting was circulating on social media. The video showed a woman confronting a man on the sidewalk, with the Paris Las Vegas hot air balloon sign and Planet Hollywood across the street in the background. The woman appears to be confronting the man, who pulls out a handgun and fires at somebody off-screen. The shocked woman screams as multiple gunshots ring out.

Information that was unconfirmed by police was circulating online about the shooting. The information indicated that one of the two people shot dead had been a YouTuber and that the shooter was also a YouTuber.

Walsh, who didn’t release any information about the victims, said police were aware that a lot was being said on social media about the killing.

Police made “every effort” to track down and arrest the suspected killer, Walsh said early Monday morning before Ruiz’s arrest.

Strip returns to normal

Later that morning, Thelma Louise, who goes by @iamthelmalouise on TikTok, walked by, livestreaming the recently cleaned crime scene near the Fountains of Bellagio.

Dried blood on cracks of pavement beneath her feet was the only trace of the tragedy that had happened the night before. By then, yellow caution tape that had sectioned off the walkway had been removed, and, as multiple tourists told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Strip had returned to normal.

Louise, 51, who moved to Las Vegas from Austin, Texas, two years ago, insisted that the city was still a place to visit and live.

“Things are going to happen, and they’ll get a spotlight because it’s Vegas,” Louise said. “Vegas has the label ‘Sin City,’ and we all know, ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ It is an extremely unfortunate situation, but I am grateful that Metro does a good job of keeping people safe.”

Tourist Raul Chaluleu, 41, also walking along the same area of Las Vegas Boulevard, shared similar sentiments, applauding police for how they handled the shooting.

Chaluleu, who wore flip-flops and athletic shorts, had traveled to Las Vegas from North Carolina to see Kenny Chesney perform at Sphere.

“We were standing outside Planet Hollywood all night,” Chaluleu said. “We went in probably an hour before it happened.”

He learned about the killings the next morning.

“I woke up to text messages from back home, because they’re three hours ahead of us,” Chaluleu added.

‘It’s just not worth it’

Chaluleu said he believed the shooting happened as a result of a feud between rival YouTube content creators. It reminded him of similar incidents where celebrities on the platform were provocative to people in public, sometimes resulting in violence.

“You’re getting shot for a YouTube video,” Chaluleu said. “It’s just not worth it.”

Eric Rose, a partner at a California-based communications firm that handles reputation management, image repair, and media relations cases, said that online fame and visibility often comes with vulnerability.

Speaking generally about the shooting, Rose said that people can sometimes underestimate how toxic and personal online harassment can become, especially when it is monetized or “fueled by ego.”

“Feuds that generate views can also generate obsession,” Rose wrote in an emailed statement. “I often see that the pressure to stay relevant online, to be provocative, edgy, or confrontational, can push creators to adopt personas that invite attention, but also scrutiny, obsession, and even threats. When you live publicly, you open the door to fans and critics alike, and sometimes to those who blur the line between the two.”

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(Review-Journal photographer Madeline Carter also contributed to this report.)

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