Shootings leave two people in critical condition

Cathy Scott

Thursday, Dec. 4, 1997 | 10:59 a.m.

A robbery suspect was critically injured early today when a female security guard shot him in the head as he fled a Walgreen Drug Store, Metro Police said.

An unrelated shooting late Wednesday left another man in critical condition.

About 2:45 a.m. today, a man allegedly robbed a clerk in a 24-hour Walgreen store at 2995 E. Flamingo Road, and also stole a cellular telephone, police said. The robber ran out of the store with a female security guard on his heels, police said.

The robber jumped into a car and tried to run over the security guard. The guard fired at the man as he tried to run her down in the parking lot, police said.

The robbery suspect was in critical condition this morning at University Medical Center with a head wound, a nursing supervisor said. He was charged with assault and robbery. The names of the suspect and the security guard were not released.

About 11 p.m. Wednesday, a man was shot several times while visiting friends in a low-incoming housing project near downtown Las Vegas, police said.

Patrol officers were called to the Vera Johnson housing project at 1300 E. Harris Ave., south of Cashman field, Metro Police said.

After encountering what police described as a hostile crowd and calling for backup, the officers found a man hit several times from gunfire, including a head wound. He was taken to University Medical Center and was in critical condition after undergoing surgery, a nursing supervisor said.

The victim was visiting friends and did not live in the complex, police said.

The gunman, described by witnesses as a black man in his early 20s wearing all black, fled on foot and was still at large this morning, police said.

The shooting may have been in retaliation for a fight the day before, homicide Sgt. Bill Keeton said. The victim had pulled apart two combatants and "apparently someone was upset about that," Keeton said.