A Utah mother shot her 11-year-old daughter inside a Las Vegas hotel room during a cheerleading trip before turning the gun on herself, police say.
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a welfare check at the Rio Hotel & Casino at 10:43 a.m. Sunday after concerns grew about a mother and child staying inside.
Police knocked on the door repeatedly but got no answer. Officers left as “there was no belief that either was in danger.”
Hotel security later received more requests to check on the room as the afternoon unfolded. At about 2:27 p.m., security personnel entered and “located the two females unresponsive,” according to authorities.
Investigators reported that both victims were “both suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.” Officers pronounced them dead at the scene.
Detectives concluded the mother carried out the killing before taking her own life. “Based on the preliminary evidence at the scene, detectives were able to determine the mother shot her daughter before shooting herself,” police stated.
Lt. Robert Price confirmed a note was discovered inside the room but did not reveal its contents. “This is a sad and tragic incident, and our hearts go out to the family,” Price said.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as 34-year-old Tawnia McGeehan and her daughter, 11-year-old Addilyn Smith, known to loved ones as Addi.
A spokesperson for the Rio Hotel & Casino acknowledged the tragedy, stating, “We are aware of the incident that occurred at the resort.”
Court records show the child’s parents endured a long custody fight after divorcing in 2015. Documents described the dispute as an “ugly custody dispute” that stretched nearly a decade.
Records indicate the former couple battled over custody, child support and even where Addi would attend school.
Court filings reveal the parents were “ordered to park their cars five spaces apart during custody handovers at Addi’s school, and she was made to walk between the parents’ vehicles by herself.”
When Addi missed school exchanges, both parents met at the Herriman Police Department in Utah to transfer custody, according to filings.
The legal battle intensified in 2020 when a judge granted sole custody to Addi’s father after finding McGeehan had “committed domestic abuse in the presence of the minor child” and was “subjecting the child to behavior on the spectrum of parental alienation,” court documents show.
A year later, a court required McGeehan’s visits to be supervised by friends or relatives. Much of the file remains sealed, leaving questions about which parent had physical custody at the time of the trip.
The Salem Police Department in Utah confirmed Addi was the niece of one of its sergeants. “While the details of this loss are difficult to process, we are coming together as a department to support Sergeant Smith and his family during this unimaginable time,” the department stated.
The Las Vegas tragedy unfolded as other violent cases involving young cheerleading victims moved through courts across the country.
In Alabama, a man accused of killing a high school cheerleader during a bonfire gathering walked out of jail on bond.
Steven Tyler Whitehead faces a murder charge in the October 2025 shooting death of 18-year-old Kimber Mills and attempted murder charges for wounding three others.
A judge set bond at $330,000, and Whitehead must wear an electronic monitor as a condition of release.
Investigators said the late-night bonfire near Highway 75 North and Clay-Palmerdale Road in Pinson turned violent after Whitehead arrived and became involved in a confrontation.
Authorities reported he pulled out a gun and fired multiple rounds, striking Mills and three others.
Silas McCay, 21, told WBRC he was shot 10 times while trying to shield friends. “I look at her like a little sister to me,” McCay said from his hospital bed. “I tried everything I could. I wish there was more I could’ve done.”
McCay described the fight that preceded the gunfire. “My ex-girlfriend came up to me at the party and said he was trying to do stuff to this girl named Kimber,” McCay said.
“My buddy and I found him, and we started fighting him. I grabbed him and put him over my shoulder and had him on the ground. My buddy pulled me off him, and that’s when he pulled his gun out and started shooting.”
Police later charged McCay and another man with third-degree assault tied to the fight before the shooting. Authorities have not accused either of firing a weapon.
Mills was rushed to UAB Hospital after suffering gunshot wounds to the head and leg. Doctors could not save her.
In Florida, federal investigators continue probing the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner aboard the Carnival Horizon.
Kepner was found dead inside her cabin around 11:15 a.m. on Nov. 7 during a family vacation. Authorities ruled the death a homicide caused by “mechanical asphyxiation.”
Investigators reported she was discovered under the bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets. The cabin was shared with her 16-year-old stepbrother.
The teenager appeared in federal court in Miami months later, walking from juvenile court into adult federal court with his face partially concealed beneath a cap and hood.
The FBI leads the investigation because the death occurred in international waters as the ship returned to Miami.
Filings in a separate family court matter indicated the 16-year-old was being investigated in Kepner’s death, though no public charges have been announced.
Officials have not publicly identified a suspect in the cruise ship case as the investigation continues.
