78-Year-Old Landlord Allegedly Shot and Killed Two Tenants Over Rent Dispute While 'Laughing and Smiling'

A Las Vegas homeowner has been accused of fatally shooting two tenants and critically injuring a third over a rent dispute, and “laughing and smiling” in the process.

Arnoldo Lozano-Sanchez got into an argument about unpaid rent with multiple people who were living in his home, according to theLas Vegas Review-Journal. Rather than take the matter to court and go through proper eviction proceedings, he decided to deal with the situation “his way,” according to a prosecutor.

The 78-year-old is now being held in jail on two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, and has been denied bail. “I don’t know what I’m being accused of,” Lozano-Sanchez said through a court interpreter.

Gunfire erupted at around 12:23 a.m. on Tuesday. Tenant Carlos Lopez saw the shootings and Lozano-Sanchez “laughing and smiling” as he opened fire on the victims. After witnessing the events, Lopez ran “for his life,” according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Tim Fattig. Lopez had been living in the home with his girlfriend Paula, who was fatally shot.

When police arrived at Lozano-Sanchez’s home early Tuesday, they discovered one woman dead outside, a second woman dead in a bedroom, and a critically injured man, who had been shot nine times. Police later discovered a weapon under a bush near Lozano-Sanchez’s home.

“The evidence clearly shows at this early stage that [Lozano-Sanchez] had a motive, he had the opportunity and he actually did commit two murders as well as an attempted murder with a deadly weapon,” Fattig said at a hearing on Wednesday. “He clearly wasn’t just trying to scare or batter these victims, but to kill them.”