Seneca Hentz, a 29-year-old African-American male from Las Vegas, was shot in the head on the night of Saturday, May 31, 2008, while seated in a car in a parking lot at Washington Avenue and Rancho Drive. Officers arrived around 10:15 p.m. and found him wounded; he was rushed to University Medical Center, where he died on Monday morning, June 2, 2008. The Clark County coroner identified him by name shortly thereafter.
In the moments leading up to the shooting, Hentz had been in a verbal altercation with a group of approximately ten males and teenagers. As he attempted to drive away, a shot was fired into the vehicle, striking him once in the head. Detectives noted at the time that they had not determined whether the killing was gang-related.
In the immediate aftermath, police made public appeals for information, asking witnesses to contact the Homicide Section or Crime Stoppers. Contemporary reporting did not announce any arrests, and no suspects were publicly identified in those initial days.
