Homeless people in Las Vegas live in fear after gunman targets their community

Residents of a homeless encampment where one person was fatally shot and four others were wounded said they are scared and angry.

LAS VEGAS — Residents of a homeless encampment where one person was fatally shot and four others were wounded said they are scared and angry as the assailant remains at large and police say they do not know why the unhoused community was targeted.

But some unsheltered residents say the motive for the Dec. 1 shooting is clear to them, and it exemplifies the ongoing violence homeless people endure, including the recent shootings of three unhoused residents in Los Angeles.

“I think it was something against homeless people,” said Veronica Ledesma, 29, who lives in an encampment two blocks from where the shooting occurred.

Ledesma, who said she became homeless 14 years ago when her parents kicked her out of their house in Las Vegas, is among a growing number of unhoused people in the metropolitan area, where their numbers reached an eight-year high of nearly 7,000 in January, according to a survey conducted by Clark County.