Customer may have shot auto shop worker

Cathy Scott

Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.

An auto-shop repair supervisor, shot to death at work Tuesday morning, may have died at the hands of an angry customer, Metro Police say.

George Veit, 42, was killed just before 8 a.m. by a masked gunman, police said. He had been in the area between the office and the repair bay at Best Auto, 1266 N. Nellis Blvd., near Washington Avenue.

Veit was the son-in-law of owner John Wray, whose family members told police that he has been receiving death threats recently.

Homicide detective Sgt. Ken Hefner said police are investigating the possibility that the killer may have been a past customer. He said police will be interviewing people who have filed complaints against the business.

"From what they're telling us, complaining customers are a regular occurrence," Hefner said. "We're going to pursue the option of those who may have shown more than a typical response over a business disagreement."

Hefner said he's hoping the assailant will eventually come forward.

"We're hoping that someone, after doing such a desperate thing, might realize, 'Is this really worth it, over a bill or over a car?' In the overall scheme of things, it's probably a relatively small amount of money," Hefner said. "Maybe they'll realize this wasn't really such a good idea. It's a relatively small amount of money to kill someone over."

The gunman approached Veit, then opened fire, hitting him three times, police said. Veit was dead at the scene.

When asked if the gunman said anything to Veit before shooting him, Hefner said, "I can't comment about that."

A fellow employee tried to follow the gunman, who fled on foot across a vacant lot behind the shop and disappeared into the neighborhood, Hefner said. The employee, who had jumped into his car, lost sight of him after several blocks, police said.

Best Auto, closed after the shooting, remains closed to the public. Kirk Ellico, a manager, said today that the shop would probably reopen Monday or Tuesday. He said employees were still reeling over the murder. "I've got mechanics who won't even come in to pick up their tools."

The assailant was described as a white male about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build and wearing a black ski mask, an olive-green trench coat, blue jeans and white sneakers.

One former customer, Betty Butler, a schoolteacher who complained to the Better Business Bureau and the state's Consumer Protection agency, was sued by Wray for defamation after she picketed his shop. Wray lost his case in District Court but has since appealed the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Butler said the murder came as no surprise to her. Veit was the employee who dealt face-to-face with customers, she said.

"I wasn't surprised. Not at all," she said. "It does something inside your gut to be treated badly."

Still, she said: "I don't believe in killing people. It should have been dealt with in the courts."