Las Vegas lawyer and wife killed when gunman opens fire at law office during custody hearing

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A lawyer and his wife were killed in a horror shooting at a Las Vegas law firm where a gunman opened fire during a custody hearing – before turning the gun on himself.

The gunman, a man in his 70s, killed himself after fatally shooting two people across the table during a deposition hearing at the City National Bank building, police said.

Las Vegas police said the gunman had “very specific goals” during the attack.

The three people who died in the law office shooting were named by the Clark County Coroner's Office as 57-year-old Dennis Prince, 30-year-old Ashley Prince and 77-year-old Joseph Houston.

The coroner has yet to announce each individual's case and manner of death.

Police officials have not confirmed the shooter's identity but said he was a man in his 70s – or the victims were a man in his 50s and a woman in her 30s.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford named his friend Dennis Prince, a Las Vegas lawyer, and his wife Ashley Prince as victims.

Dennis Prince, a top Las Vegas lawyer, was killed in the shooting (Included)

“I am devastated,” Mr. Ford wrote on X. “Dennis Prince was not only a brilliant lawyer, but also my former law partner and my friend. I can't believe he's gone.

“I am deeply saddened by his and Ashley’s deaths and my condolences go out to their families, especially their children.”

Robert Eglet, Prince's former attorney, remembered him as a father of four whose death was “not only a loss to his family, but to the community,” 8 News Now reported.

The shooting occurred Monday at the Prince Law Group office in a midsize office building on West Charleston Boulevard.

Las Vegas Police Homicide Unit Lt. Jason Johansson told reporters at a news conference that there were seven people in the room at the time of the deposition hearing.

A few minutes into the hearing, the gunman suddenly stood up and opened fire on the two victims on the other side of the table, Lt. Johansson said, calling it a “traumatic event.”

The victims were in the room for a custody hearing, police said (AP)The shooting occurred at the offices of the Prince Law Group (CBS)

The four other people in the room, including a court reporter, were able to quickly escape and call police, he said.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said officers were called to the scene shortly after 10 a.m. local time, they wrote in a series of updates on X.

The two victims and the shooter were pronounced dead at the scene.

A specific motive for the attack has not been confirmed by police, but LVMPD said they believe it was a targeted attack.

Hundreds of people inside the building were evacuated during the incident, the department wrote

Dan Musgrove, who works in the hallway at the law firm, told FOX5 that he saw two people screaming and visibly upset from the door.

“I think they were in shock and it was tragic to see what was going on. They knew shots had been fired. They believed someone had been shot and possibly killed,” he told the outlet.

Mr Musgrove also said that the feeling of shock also came over him at that moment.

“We were all just nervous about what would happen if the shooter came into our office on the same floor,” he added.

Mr. Eglet told 3 News that the shooting was “senseless and tragic” and that Prince leaves behind four children, including a son about 12 years old, two adult children and a baby with Ashley.

His eldest son reportedly works in Prince's office, but Mr. Eglet told the outlet he was not there at the time of the shooting.

Hundreds of workers had to be evacuated from the City National Bank building on West Charleston Boulevard in Las Vegas (AP)

Tom Letizia, a friend of Prince and political adviser, said in a statement to 8 News Now: “Dennis was not only a close friend of mine, but also a respected figure within our legal community, whose absence has left us all saddened.” .

“The news of this tragedy has deeply shocked me and our entire community,” he added.

The Prince Law Group acknowledged the tragedy in a statement Monday evening.

“It is with deep sadness that the Prince Law Group would like to thank everyone who has reached out to us with warm messages of concern and compassion about the tragic violence that occurred in our offices this morning,” the law group wrote.

After a shootout in a law firm's office, police crowd in front of the City National Bank (8 news now)

According to a profile of Prince on the Prince Law Group website, he founded the law firm and is “considered one of the top litigators in the state of Nevada.”

Prince was admitted to the bar in 1993 and has since successfully litigated more than 50 cases before the Nevada Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, among others.