Convicted Las Vegas murderer who then killed 2 post-release shot 3rd person over 5 days
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The man convicted of murder as a teenager, who then shot and killed two people over a 5-day crime spree, also shot a third person in the face – that man survived.
Mark Ford, 36, killed two people, shot a third and then died by suicide between Feb. 20 and Feb. 25, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained. In all, Ford killed three people — not including himself — as he served 20 years in prison for the 2003 murder of Vincent Gomes.
On Tuesday, Feb. 20, around 5 p.m., Jessica Russo’s mother called police saying she found her 36-year-old daughter unresponsive with several gunshot wounds at a home near St. Rose Parkway and Bermuda Road.
Investigators identified Ford as Russo’s boyfriend and said Ford also lived at the home.
“He murdered my daughter like a monster. He should’ve never gotten out of prison. He’s a monster,” Laura Russo told 8 News Now after her daughter’s death. “You can never replace a mother. Even by a grandmother, you can’t replace a mother,” she said of Jessica’s children whom she left behind.
On Sunday, Feb. 25, around midnight, Ford shot and killed John Dorotiak, 44, outside of Dotty’s near Hualapai and Elkhorn. Dorotiak worked there as a bartender, one of two jobs he did to support his wife and 16-month-old daughter, his family said.
Police identified Ford as an “acquaintance” of Dorotiak’s, though the exact relationship remained unclear Tuesday.
“We know that Jessica and John worked together at Lefty’s for a little while and also worked at Dotty’s and were friends,” Nicole Manning, Dorotiak’s niece, said. “John is a very caring person and he always looked out for others, and I think he had heard from their community at work that she was involved with someone who was very dangerous, who was convicted of murder.”
Later that morning, police found Ford dead in a car outside of a home in the south valley near Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway, documents said. Officers found Ford with a gunshot wound to his chest.
Police found a gun under his sweater.
Sometime between Dorotiak’s murder and the discovery of Ford’s body, Ford shot another man in the head, documents said.
In that third shooting, a person called police saying Ford was outside a home near Cactus Avenue and Valley View Boulevard. The victim, a man, was shot outside of the home and survived, documents said. The man’s name was not made public.
Police said the third victim was a “friend” of Ford’s.
Had Ford lived, he would have faced charges including two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. In the hours after Dorotiak’s murder, Metro police issued a public alert in an attempt to find Ford.
In 2003, a jury convicted Ford on a second-degree murder charge for the death of his neighbor, records said. Then a teenager, Ford broke into a neighbor’s home, stabbing him during a burglary. A judge then sentenced him to two life terms in prison.
Ford was paroled in February 2023, a spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Corrections said. A law passed in 2015 lessened sentences of life without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders, leading to Ford’s release.
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