Authorities ID two fatally shot near encampment

A man and woman found dead near a makeshift encampment behind a store in the east Las Vegas Valley have been identified.

Vincent Spoto, 65, was found with a gunshot wound to the head, and Shella Huey, 46, was found with gunshot wounds to the neck and head, the Clark County coroner’s office said Wednesday.

Both were found Monday behind the Autozone store at 3290 S. Nellis Blvd., just north of the intersection with East Desert Inn Road.

Behind the store on Tuesday, the words “Vince loves Bella” in all caps were seen written on a wall. Clothes and other remnants of human activity were scattered about the grass, but there were no obvious signs that a double homicide had taken place.

The Metropolitan Police Department said officers responded about 4:50 p.m. Monday to a report of two people found unresponsive. Police initially said foul play was suspected. On Wednesday, the coroner’s office described the manner of their deaths as homicides.

“Officers arrived and located an adult male and female, who were unresponsive near a makeshift shelter,” Metro police said in a news release.

A Metro spokesperson declined to confirm Tuesday if Spoto and Huey — whom police didn’t identify by name — were homeless.

The pair’s slaying was one of two homicides involving three people found dead near homeless encampments on Monday.

Across town, Mark Deandre Grant, 29, was shot multiple times and died outside the Arville Street and Harmon Avenue-area drainage tunnel where he had been living with his girlfriend.

Metro spokesperson officer Aden Ocampogomez said that both cases were being investigated individually and that there was nothing to suggest the two cases were related.