A teenager found dead in an abandoned house in a Las Vegas suburb last week was killed during while engaging in “Russian roulette,” investigators have concluded.
Las Vegas resident Matthew Minkler, 17, was with two other teenagers when the gun went off Friday, according to a probable cause report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The two other teenagers allegedly ran from the Henderson house after the shot went off but returned later to clean up the scene and hide the body in a downstairs closet. Detectives later found an expletive spray-painted on the closet door.
Authorities discovered Minkler’s body after arresting one of the other teenagers for leading police on a car chase in a stolen Mercedes. The teen allegedly told police he had been involved with a murder earlier in the day.
Minkler’s wallet was found inside the stolen car, police said.
He was found dead in the house with a gunshot wound to the head.
When police searched the second teenager’s cellphone, they found several videos from the scene of the shooting, the report said.
That teenager told police he was involved in the shooting and that it was accidental, police said.
Both teenagers have been charged as adults in Minkler’s death. One faces a charge of murder with a deadly weapon, and the other faces charges of accessory to murder after the fact and destroying evidence.
Minkler’s family has declined to comment.
