Murder charges dropped against teens

Bill Gang

Thursday, March 25, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

Murder charges have been dropped against two teenagers charged with three other defendants in the slayings of two men who were chased down and shot in their pickup.

However, Justice of the Peace Doug Smith ruled Wednesday there is sufficient evidence to hold the remaining three men for trial in District Court in the Feb. 20 shooting deaths of 17-year-old Eloy Numez and Carlos Lopez.

Gustavo Cumplido, 36, his son Matthew Cumplido, 14, and Christian Angulo, 19, are scheduled to be arraigned April 5 in District Judge Sally Loehrer's courtroom.

Gustavo Cumplido is alleged to have been the one who wielded the shotgun that fired a barrage of shots into a truck carrying the victims and another man, who was uninjured.

Testimony at the preliminary hearing in Smith's courtroom alleged that Matthew Cumplido also fired shots in the incident near Pecos and Bonanza roads.

Christian Angulo is charged with being the driver of the truck that carried the five defendants.

But at the end of the preliminary hearing, even Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot admitted there wasn't much evidence against the remaining two defendants, Byron Angulo, 15, and Peter Cumplido, 17. Smith then dismissed the charges against the pair, who had been in jail for more than a month.

Under Nevada law, a person can't be charged with a crime for being "merely present" at a crime scene.

Defense attorneys have said the shooting incident was the result of repeated vandalism, a car theft and drive-by shootings at the home of the Cumplido family near Pecos Road and Stewart Avenue.

Police reports had been filed but no arrests were made.

Testimony at the preliminary hearing indicated that after an incident involving a shot fired outside the home, the five defendants piled into a truck and pursued the vehicle from which the shot was believed to have originated.

Moments later, the fatal shots were fired.