In the early morning hours of September 2, 2018, a discovery was made in a parking lot in North Las Vegas that would mark the tragic end of a life. Santiago Moreno-Contreras, a 37-year-old Hispanic male, was found deceased in his utility van at the southwest corner of East Lake Mead Boulevard and North McCarran Street. The vehicle, which he used for his mobile car wash business, had become a crime scene.
Initially, the circumstances of his death were not immediately clear to the
responding officers. Moreno-Contreras was found slumped over in the driver's seat, and his injuries were not readily visible. It wasn't until the arrival of the Clark County coroner's office that the grim reality of the situation was uncovered. An examination revealed that Moreno-Contreras had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. His death was subsequently ruled a homicide.
North Las Vegas police investigators believe that the shooting occurred within the parking lot where he was found. In the days following the incident, authorities reported that it was the second homicide they had investigated in a little over two hours that Sunday morning, though they did not believe the two cases were related. As of September 7, 2018, no arrests had been made in connection with the shooting of Santiago Moreno-Contreras. The investigation into his death remains ongoing, with no publicly identified suspects.
