Las Vegas police search for clues in Excalibur casino shooting

LAS VEGAS — Police on Saturday continued their search for a motive for a Friday night murder-suicide at a busy Strip casino in which a man shot and fatally wounded a woman and then killed himself as gamblers fled in terror.

The incident unfolded about 8:30 p.m. near the front entrance of the Excalibur hotel-casino as a gunman shot the woman, who was a vendor at Excalibur’s concierge desk. The man then turned the gun on himself and died at the scene. The woman was pronounced dead later at a local hospital, police said.

Neither the gunman nor the victim was identified, and a police spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that the relationship between the two wasn’t immediately clear. The victim worked at the concierge desk as a vendor for the travel website VEGAS.com.

An unidentified hotel worker told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the woman was working when her boyfriend shot her in the face and then turned the gun on himself.

The attack happened on an unusually busy Friday night here, with Las Vegas hosting the National Finals Rodeo and other events. Police said casino patrons dropped their chips and fled for the doors in panic when gunshots rang out.

The hotel and casino remained opened for business with investigators cordoning off the area.

With more than 4,000 rooms, the sprawling Excalibur, named for the mythical sword of King Arthur, is located at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Violence is rare on the security-conscious Strip. In 2007, a man opened fire at New York-New York casino, wounding four tourists before being tackled by bystanders.

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john.glionna@latimes.com