Amanda and Victor Frias Rosas worked at the Smith’s where police say they were shot.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A Las Vegas grocery store where Amanda and Victor Frias Rosas worked became a homicide scene after police say Amanda’s former partner found the couple there and shot them to death.
The May 12 attack at the Smith’s on South Maryland Parkway left co-workers, shoppers and the couple’s family facing a public killing tied by police to a private custody dispute. Alejandro Estrada, 43, is accused of killing Amanda Frias Rosas, 40, and Victor Frias Rosas, 43, then being stopped by bystanders before officers arrived.
The store sits in the Silverado Ranch area, where the daily work of shopping, stocking shelves and checking out customers was interrupted by gunfire late that morning. Police said dispatchers began receiving reports at about 11:24 a.m. of a male shooting inside a grocery store in the 9700 block of South Maryland Parkway. When officers arrived, they found three citizens restraining Estrada outside. Inside, they found the two victims with apparent gunshot wounds. Medical personnel pronounced both dead at the scene. Homicide detectives then closed in on two connected facts, Amanda Frias Rosas had previously been in a relationship with Estrada, and she was married to Victor Frias Rosas.
The victims were not strangers to the store. Both worked there, according to reports and people who knew them. A family friend described Victor Frias Rosas as one of the nicest people he had met, saying the couple were down to earth, helpful and often smiling. Their co-worker Arturo Salazar remembered a detail from the cart the couple had with them that day. They were carrying a cake for a birthday. “They had a cake that said, ‘Happy birthday,’” Salazar said. The shooting happened on the 12th birthday of the son Amanda Frias Rosas shared with Estrada. The former couple’s younger child had a birthday two days later. Neither child was present.
For shoppers, the violence came without warning. Paula Milton said she heard a volley of shots and saw panic spread through the store. She said the man accused in the shooting appeared calm while others ran. “He was completely calm. No expression. No nothing,” Milton said. Hanna Manker was shopping with two young children when the gunfire started. She said everyone began running and she crouched down with her children. Outside the store, police said, Merconie Clark, Darius Alston and another person helped restrain Estrada near the pharmacy drive-thru area. Clark said he struggled with the suspect over a gun, then learned there were more weapons in a backpack.
Kroger, which owns Smith’s, said after the shooting that it was cooperating with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and that the store would remain closed while the investigation continued. The company said it was “deeply saddened” by the violence and was offering support to associates and customers. Police secured the store and parking lot while detectives collected shell casings, reviewed video and interviewed witnesses. The grocery aisles became part of a larger map of evidence that stretched beyond the business to the victims’ home and to a family court dispute that police say had been building for years.
According to a later arrest report, Estrada did not start the day at the store. Police say he left his North Las Vegas home at 6:46 a.m. dressed in black and carrying a black backpack. Surveillance video showed someone matching his description at the Frias Rosas home shortly before 11 a.m. Police later found a doorbell camera torn from the front entrance, the rear sliding door shattered, a .45-caliber casing on the back patio and a bullet in the living room. The master bedroom had been ransacked. Estrada told detectives he had gone to the home, found the couple absent and destroyed the bedroom in anger, the report says.
Minutes later, police say, Estrada walked to the Smith’s near Maryland Parkway and Silverado Ranch Boulevard. Store video showed him arriving around 11:20 a.m. Detectives wrote that he found Amanda and Victor Frias Rosas, circled the produce section and waited for them to turn down an aisle with their backs to him. Police said he then followed them and shot them multiple times. Officers recovered eight .45-caliber casings near the victims inside the store. Investigators also said a bullet tied to Estrada matched the type found at the couple’s home. Police say he had three guns, including one in the backpack, and multiple loaded magazines.
The custody dispute described by police gave prosecutors a possible motive. Estrada told detectives Amanda Frias Rosas left him in 2020 after he lost his job. He said he later lost parental rights and was required to pay support he could not afford. Records cited in local reporting show he had been ordered to pay $342 a month and owed more than $2,800 as of November. Police said he had been served with a notice to appear in court June 1 over child custody and support. After that, the report says, he decided he would kill Amanda Frias Rosas because he believed she was ruining his life and would not stop.
Amanda Frias Rosas had written publicly about custody tensions before her death. In one post, she said hate for an ex should not be greater than love for a child. In another, she shared a message about parenting and wrote that children should not be used as pawns to fulfill a “vendetta.” Police have not said the social media posts are the basis of the charges, but they fit the conflict described in the arrest report. Amanda Frias Rosas married Victor Frias Rosas in February 2025 after separating from Estrada. Police reports say the former couple shared joint family obligations and continued to face custody and support issues.
Estrada was first booked on two counts of open murder with use of a deadly weapon, eight counts of discharging a firearm inside an occupied structure, burglary while in possession of a firearm and aggravated stalking with use of a deadly weapon. A later case tied to the couple’s home added home invasion, burglary and discharging a gun into a structure allegations. Prosecutors have consolidated the cases. Local court reporting says Estrada is being held without bail on 14 felony charges, including two counts of first-degree murder. A judge said the allegations showed disregard for human life and danger to the public.
A public defender said in court that Estrada plans to enter a not guilty plea. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said prosecutors may consider seeking the death penalty. For the Smith’s workers and customers who knew the couple or saw the shooting, the criminal case now moves forward while the store community absorbs the loss. The next major court date is a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 29 at 9:30 a.m.
Author note: Last updated June 15, 2026.