LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas man was arrested on an open murder charge after another man was found dead during a welfare check, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.
According to an arrest report, on Thursday, May 25, at around 8 a.m. LVMPD officers were conducting a welfare check on an individual in a residence in the 1600 block of Nesting Way.
The victim, identified as Roy Tuando, had not shown up to work for two days, so his boss requested a welfare check. Arriving officers spoke with Steven McLucas, 42, who identified himself as Tuando’s nephew.
The report stated that McLucas told police that Tuando was visiting his wife in Florida. When asked if there was anyone else in the house, McLucas said no. The officers, concerned with Tuando’s safety, asked to check the rest of the house.
According to the report, the officers were able to clear the rest of the house except for a locked upstairs bedroom which McLucas identified as Tuando’s.
Officers asked McLucas if they could talk with Tuando. He told officers that he did not have Tuando’s number, but instead called his mother and had her speak with the officers.
McLucas’ mother told police that she was concerned for Tuando’s safety because he never misses work and does not have a wife in Florida.
McLucas told officers that he had been using fentanyl and that there was a firearm in the house. At the time, McLucas had been on house arrest for a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
Because of the inconsistencies in McLucas’ story, officers forced the door to Tuando’s room open. According to the report, officers found Tuando sitting on the floor next to his bed with a wound on his left shoulder. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
McLucas was arrested for violating his house arrest. During the interview with police, McLucas initially denied injuring Tuando, before he changed his story and confessed to shooting Tuando with an assault rifle.
According to the report, sometime after midnight on May 23, McLucas was going to the area of Craig Road and Nellis Boulevard to buy fentanyl. He wanted to take Tuando’s assault-style rifle with him for protection.
McLucas told police that he attempted to sneak into Tuando’s room and steal the rifle when Tuando caught him, grabbed the rifle, and began cursing at him. McLucas told police that during a fight over the rifle, his finger was on the trigger, and it fired.
McLucas told police that he heard Tuando struggle to breathe before he stopped breathing. McLucas did not call an ambulance or the police and left with the rifle to buy Fentanyl.
McLucas was arrested and taken to the Clark County Detention Center, where he will face a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon. He was being held Friday without bail.
Anyone with any information about this incident is urged to contact the LVMPD
Homicide Section by phone at 702-828-3521, or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com. To
remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555, or on their website.