Police took into custody and arrested a poker player wanted in connection to a shooting that occurred Sunday morning near the Las Vegas Strip.
Jon Letzkus, 45, is accused of firing his weapon from the balcony of the MGM Signature Towers overlooking the Strip at around 6:00 a.m. Although no one was injured in the shooting, authorities shut down the popular tourist area to ensure public safety.
Police Locate Poker Playing Suspect
Nearly five hours later, the area from the south end of the Strip and one block east on Koval Lane reopened after the suspect was apprehended.
At the time of publishing, the motive remained unclear or police just haven’t publicly released that information. Las Vegas Metro Police Department (LVMPD) initially sent out a tweet asking the public for help in locating Letzkus. The search only took a few hours to conclude.
Despite no injuries or deaths occurring as a result of the early morning New Year’s Eve shooting, incidents such as this one will always bring back memories of the Oct. 1, 2017 shooting on the Las Vegas Strip in which deranged video poker player Stephen Paddock fired upon country music concertgoers from inside a Mandalay Bay suite, killing dozens of innocent people.
Letzkus has just over $14,000 in live poker tournament results on The Hendon Mob. His most recent cash a first-place finish in Lincoln City, California, a $4,847 score in a $160 buy-in PacWest Poker Classic Omaha hi-lo event.
The alleged shooter has four World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes, all for small amounts from 2019 to 2020, and two of which took place online at WSOP.com. Letzkus is a low-stakes player.
Metro Deputy Chief Dori Koren said during a Sunday press conference that he believes Letzkus used a single handgun. Investigators felt confident the incident wouldn’t have any impact on the Las Vegas Strip’s New Year’s Eve festivities.