21 Facts About Zane Floyd

Zane Michael Floyd was born on September 20,1975 and is an American convicted mass murderer who at the age of 23 killed four people and injured a fifth in a supermarket in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 3,1999.

Zane Floyd was honorably discharged in 1998 due to heavy drinking and was told he was not welcome to re-enlist.

On June 3,1999, at approximately 5:15 in the morning, Zane Floyd entered an Albertson's supermarket located at 3864 West Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas and opened fire on random individuals in the store using a shotgun.

Zane Floyd first shot 40-year-old worker Thomas Darnell in the back, killing him.

Zane Floyd initially walked past Emenegger's motionless body and started to leave the store but abruptly stopped and doubled back to ensure Emenegger was dead.

In total, Zane Floyd had shot seven shotgun shells in seven minutes, killing four people and critically wounding Emenegger.

Zane Floyd eventually told her she had 60 seconds to run or be killed.

Zane Floyd left through the supermarket's north doors to meet the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who had been called by an employee who had been upstairs and believed there was a robbery in progress.

When he noticed officers surrounding the complex, Zane Floyd threatened to kill himself, pointing the shotgun to his head.

When questioned by police, Zane Floyd confessed to the killings and said he committed the murders because he had always wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.

Jurors at Zane Floyd's trial heard his confession and watched the video from store surveillance cameras.

Zane Floyd did not testify at the three-day trial, where Emenegger testified against him.

Zane Floyd filed a direct appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, which affirmed his conviction and sentence in March 2002.

Zane Floyd subsequently filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the state district court.

Zane Floyd then pursued a pro se habeas petition in the US District Court for the District of Nevada, challenging his conviction and death sentence.

Zane Floyd filed a second amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

In December 2014, the US District Court partially granted the State's motion to dismiss and denied Zane Floyd's remaining claims on the merits; however, it allowed an appeal as to several issues.

Consequently, Zane Floyd appealed the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, Zane Floyd initiated various new petitions to the Nevada Supreme Court, one alleging separation-of-powers violations by the District Attorney's office, another one challenging the authority and jurisdiction of the department of the state district court to issue an order of execution, and another one challenging the specific prison in which he was supposed to be executed.

Zane Floyd's execution was stayed by US District Court Judge Richard Boulware II on February 14,2022, after Nevada chief deputy Attorney General Randall Gilmer told the court that Clark County prosecutors could not satisfy the legal requirements to obtain a new death warrant to carry out the execution by February 28, when the state's current supply of ketamine, one of four drugs used in lethal injections in Nevada, expires.

Zane Floyd would have been the first person to be executed in Nevada in over fifteen years, since Daryl Mack was executed in 2006.