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WEST WENDOVER -- A manhunt for Able Perez began in Nevada and Utah Wednesday night shortly after he was was identified as the suspect in a shooting outside of a nightclub. Thursday morning that search came to an end.
Police dispatch in West Wendover received a call from Abel Perez Thursday around 5:30 a.m. He told dispatch to send police to his location because he was going to shoot himself. When police arrived to the 600 block of Oak Street, where Perez showed up at this brothers house, he immediately shot himself, never talking to police.
Police say he used the same shotgun he used on his wife last night. Neighbors told us they watched the scene unfold in disbelief.
Neighbor Margaret Villa said, "That's crazy. I don't know what he was thinking, it's unbelievable."
Police say Perez followed his wife to the West Wendover night club, Area 51, around 9:30 last night and shot her in the head before she got out of her vehicle.
West Wendover police Sgt. David Wiskerchen said, "She didn't even have the opportunity to leave the vehicle."
Police say Perez had called her earlier in the evening and threatened kill her if she went to the club. She had a restraining order against him. The two had several children together.
"We'll try to ascertain what brought this about," Wiskerchen said. "It's very tragic, it has affected a number of people. The police department extends our deepest condolences to the families, and we'll try to figure out a motive."
Perez' wife was conscious and talking to police when they arrived on scene last night; however, she quickly became unconscious. She was flown to a Salt Lake area hospital in extremely critical condition last night and immediately rushed into surgery. She has since been upgraded to critical condition.
E-mail: spark@ksl.com
