Security increased after shooting at Clark High

Jace Radke and Jerry Fink

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

Clark County School District Police more than doubled its security at Clark High School this morning in light of a campus shooting that left two teenage boys wounded and two other teenagers under arrest.

Metro Police say a 16-year-old and 15-year-old were shot as they stood at the northeast corner of the Clark campus at 2:40 p.m. Monday. The 16-year-old was treated and released. The 15-year-old remains in fair condition.

Police said they believe the shooting was gang related.

Maynor Villanueva, 18, was arrested outside the Sandpebble Apartments on Sirius Avenue about five minutes after the shooting. A 14-year-old boy was arrested in the nearby Woodcreek Apartment complex.

Villanueva is facing two counts of attempted murder, two counts of battery and one count of robbery all with a deadly weapon. He also is charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of a stolen vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident.

The 14-year-old, whose name was not released, has been charged with two counts of aiding and abetting in an attempted homicide and possession of a stolen vehicle.

A 15-year-old junior boy was playing Hacky Sack about five feet away from the two victims when they were shot.

"A guy who was sitting on the wall across the street came up and asked where they (the victims) were from," the teenager said. "Then he shot them, and everybody started running and crawling away. There must have been 50 people around here."

He said students often hang out, wait for rides and eat a snack from the nearby 7-Eleven in the grassy area where the shooting occurred.

He and other students said they heard six shots fired, before the shooter fled.

Clark Principal Wayne Tanaka said there has been very little gang violence at the school located at 4291 Pennwood Ave., at the corner of Pennwood and Arville Street.

"It has been held down, but you never feel comfortable," Tanaka said. "I feel like I'm sitting on a one-legged stool. You can never relax when it comes to gangs."

Heightened security measures were obvious this morning. Instead of the normal one or two campus police officers, four were on hand this morning. In addition, several Metro Police officers were patrolling the perimeter of the school.

"We're keeping a high profile," one officer said.

School administrators and police held a debriefing this morning shortly before the start of school.

Afterward, Tanaka said there would be a faculty meeting, and he would then go on the school intercom to tell students what happened.

"I will be truthful with the kids and make sure they have the facts, not rumors and innuendos," he said.

Crisis counselors will be available if they are needed.

Clark County School District Superintendent Brian Cram made a brief appearance at the school this morning.

"I'm here to make sure we have all the support we need," he said.

Cram stressed that the shooting was not school-related.

"It's a neighborhood problem that spilled over onto school grounds," he said.

Tanaka said the situation could have been worse if school had not let out about 30 minutes before the shooting.

"School got out at 2:11 p.m., so a lot of the students were already at home when this happened," Tanaka said. "There were still students here who are involved in after-school programs and sports, and this is homecoming week so we had some students working on things for that.

"We probably had only about 200 students still on campus when this happened."

Many of those who were still around scattered for cover when they heard the gunshots that were fired in the area of a shady patch of grass in front of the high school.

"It was the scariest feeling in the world," one 16-year-old junior girl said. "My friends and I were walking out when we heard a gun going off. We hid behind some bushes.

"We could see other students running and ducking trying to get away."

The two victims ran into the school after being shot and were helped by a teacher to the nurse's office and then taken to the hospital.

Villanueva and a 14-year-old boy, who police believe was an accomplice, allegedly ran west across Arville and jumped over a block wall that borders the Woodcreek Apartments, Metro Police spokesman Officer Steve Meriwether said.

The two the allegedly tried to escape in a stolen car.

"It looks like they may have parked the car behind the wall before the shooting," Meriwether said. "They were probably panicking at that point and wrecked the car in the apartment complex."

One of the boys allegedly tried to steal a bicycle at knife point from a child in the complex, before heading south and jumping another block wall into the Sandpebble Apartments, police said.

As news of the shootings spread, worried parents began to descend on the school looking for their children.

"I'm still shaking," Yvonne Montoya said as she picked up her daughter. "I was really scared when I was driving here and I saw all the police, and then I found out my daughter was right near where it happened.

"It's a shock."

A 15-year-old sophomore girl was one of the students that went straight home after school. She lives next door in the Woodcreek Apartments. She said she came outside when her little brother noticed the commotion across the street at the high school.

"I think it's pretty scary," she said from behind the same wall the suspects had jumped over 20 minutes earlier. "Lord knows that if they didn't get the person they wanted they might come back, and it might be me getting shot next time."

When asked if she was scared to go back to school, she said "I'm going to have to go. I have to graduate and go to college if I want to get away from all of these gangs and shootings."

Other students commented that the apartment-choked neighborhood around Clark has a gang problem.

Three members of the baseball team were working out at the time of the shooting. Their coach, Paul Vesone, told them to stay inside, and they weren't too concerned because they figured the brick walls would stop any stray bullets.

"It's an everyday thing, well not everyday, but almost," one of the baseball players said, shrugging his shoulders.

The three boys said they try to walk home with someone and stick to the main streets.

"I used to cut through the apartment complexes, but they look at you and are kind of intimidating," another team member said of alleged gang members at the Fairview Park Apartments, 3011 Arville.

He said he and his parents tried to get him transferred to another school because of the neighborhood, but school officials wouldn't let him, saying there's nothing wrong with the school.

Clark County School Police spokesman Sgt. Ken Young said this was the first shooting on Clark's campus that he knew of, but hesitated to say that the neighborhood around the school was a hotspot for gang activity.

"Pretty much anywhere you go in Las Vegas you'll run into gangs," Young said. "I can't say this area is a gang haven."

Sun reporters Launce Rake and Kim Smith contributed to this story.