Las Vegas lawyer and his wife were killed amid custody fight for her children from prior marriage, family says
A Las Vegas lawyer and his wife had been in the middle of a contentious battle for custody of her children from a previous marriage when the woman’s former father-in-law, also an attorney, fatally shot them last week during a deposition hearing in the case, according to authorities and relatives.
LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas lawyer and his wife had been in the middle of a contentious battle for custody of her children from a previous marriage when the woman’s former father-in-law, also an attorney, fatally shot them last week during a deposition hearing in the case, according to authorities and relatives.
The coroner’s office in Las Vegas identified the victims as lawyer Dennis Prince and his wife, Ashley. Both were shot multiple times, the coroner’s office said, before 77-year-old Joseph Houston shot and killed himself.
Gunfire erupted just minutes after the deposition hearing began on the morning of April 8 at Dennis Prince’s law firm, Prince Law Group, in the affluent Summerlin neighborhood.
Seven people were in the room at the time of the shooting, police said. The four others, including a court reporter, were able to quickly escape and call police.
At a news conference Monday, Ashley Prince’s parents said their daughter was previously married to Houston’s son and had been trying for years to gain sole custody of their two children. Houston, a lawyer in Nevada since 1974, had been representing his son in the custody battle, court records show.
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