LAS VEGAS — A tragic shooting over the weekend on the bustling Las Vegas Strip was captured live on video by the victims, who were streaming to their joint YouTube channel, a police report has revealed.
The incident claimed the lives of a married couple, Tanisha Finley, 43, and Rodney Finley, 44, as confirmed by the Clark County coroner’s office. Both were reported to have died due to multiple gunshot wounds.
According to Las Vegas law enforcement, the shooting on Sunday night near the iconic Bellagio fountains was a targeted attack involving the victims and a suspect they had been in a social media dispute with since at least 2023. Identified as Manuel D. Ruiz, the 41-year-old suspect turned himself in on Monday morning at a police station outside Las Vegas.
Ruiz faces two charges of open murder with the use of a deadly weapon, with no bail currently set, as per jail records. He explained to police following his arrest that the shooting was an act of self-defense.
The police report details that the suspect was visibly seen in the livestream footage drawing a firearm from his waistband, raising it, and discharging between five to six shots. Further gunshots are audible in the video after Tanisha Finley is seen reaching for the cellphone capturing the livestream.
“You can see the phone fall to the ground,” the report mentions, “where it stayed until a police officer appeared in the video and ended the livestream.”
Among those who alerted authorities via 911 was the couple’s son, who shared his frantic concern with emergency dispatchers, saying, “I heard gunshots around him. I think he might have got shot, so I was just trying to check and make sure, just try to see if he’s OK or where he’s at.”
Ruiz, during a police interview post-surrender, stated he too was operating a YouTube channel and livestreaming from the Strip on that tragic evening. He claimed his response was provoked when one of the victims seemed to be reaching for a weapon.
However, police noted that no weapons were uncovered on the victims at the scene.
This incident unfolded on one of the Strip’s most crowded areas, where the Bellagio fountains draw crowds with their spectacular shows of water dancing up to 460 feet into the air, occurring every quarter-hour between 8 p.m. and midnight on weekends.