Self-defense killing described

Karen Zekan

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 10:14 a.m.

The district attorney's office and Metro Police have determined that a 45-year-old Las Vegas man was legally acting in self defense on Super Bowl Sunday when he shot and killed a former tenant.

Robert Saccavino was released from jail Wednesday. A previous charge of attempted murder, linking him to the death of Leon Donniani, 30, was dropped.

"It is our feeling that this was a situation of self defense," said homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen.

"We called the district attorney's office and reviewed the case with them ... The case is closed."

Saccavino was booked into the Clark County Detention Center late Sunday after his arrest inside his home near Desert Inn Road and Spencer Street, where the shooting happened about 8:10 p.m.

Donniani died at 1:55 a.m. Tuesday at University Medical Center from a single .45-caliber bullet wound in his abdomen, police said.

Saccavino provided police with a detailed account of the events leading up to the moment when Metro dispatchers received his 911 call for help, stating he'd just shot Donniani.

At the time of his death, Donniani was wanted on a warrant issued July 31, 1996, for failure to appear in a Belknap County courthouse for a burglary charge in Laconia, N.H.

Donniani was also convicted in 1993 in New Hampshire for burglary, which came with a one-to-three-year prison sentence. He was arrested in Vermont in 1987 for possession of stolen property and sentenced to two to four years in state prison.

Saccavino on Thursday told the SUN that he met Donniani in fall 1996 at a Henderson company the two were working for.

"He told me he needed a place to stay because he was having problems with his new wife, so I let him rent out a room from me in the house I've owned for 20 years," Saccavino said.

But several months later, Saccavino said, he asked Donniani to leave when drugs turned up in his home.

Saccavino said Donniani returned several times to his home and threatened his life, once with a gun.

The tension between the two men, however, eased in recent months. Saccavino took Donniani out for dinner and to a few fights as payback for repairs Donniani made to Saccavino's roof.

On Sunday, Saccavino said he drove Donniani to the Rum Rummer bar near Tropicana Avenue and Spencer Street about 3 p.m. to watch the Super Bowl.

"Leon was out of control that day," Saccavino said. "He was yelling at some girls in a Chevy Blazer on the way to the bar, then he was hassling girls inside the bar."

Saccavino said Donniani was told at least twice by owners of the Rum Runner to quiet down during the game, the end of which Saccavino said he watched at home.

"I asked Leon if he wanted a ride home, because he was just causing trouble, but he said no," Saccavino said. "After I got home, I called the Rum Runner to apologize to the owners because of Leon. They told me it took three guys to get Leon out of the bar."

Donniani, Saccavino said, showed up drunk and angry at his door, claiming he'd walked all the way from the bar and furious that Donniani hadn't stood up for him when the Rum Runner's owners asked him to leave.

Saccavino said Donniani suddenly grew into a fit if rage. "His face was red and his veins were popping out." Donniani, Saccavino said, lunged at him three times with a weapon in hand.

Saccavino grabbed a .45-caliber handgun he had in the living room and fired once, he said.