Shootings leave two Vegas teens dead in two days

Jace Radke

Monday, Feb. 21, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

For the second time in two days, a teenager has died after being shot in a drive-by shooting.

Sunday about 6:15 p.m. a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot in the back near his home in the Arville Park Apartments, 2600 South Arville St.

Metro Police homicide detectives said the teen was walking with a friend north on Arville Street when the two noticed a light colored Nissan Sentra or Toyota Corolla drive by them several times.

As the boy and his friend turned into the apartment complex, the car followed them into the driveway and someone inside the car yelled a profanity in Spanish, Sgt. Kevin Manning said.

One of the people in the car then fired one shot, hitting the 15-year-old in the back, Manning said. The boy and his friend ran toward the boy's apartment, but the 15-year-old collapsed on the ground outside.

The boy, whose name was withheld, was taken to University Medical Center, where he was taken into emergency surgery but died at 8 p.m.

Police believe four to five Hispanic males with shaved heads were in the car, which left the area headed south on Arville.

Homicide detectives continue to investigate Friday afternoon's fatal drive-by shooting of a 17-year-old.

Detectives are trying to determine if the shooting near Washington Avenue and Decatur Boulevard about 1:35 p.m. Friday was gang related, Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

Samuel Alejandro Larios died from a gunshot wound in the head at UMC about 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

Larios, a Western High School student, was riding in a car with three friends when a small pickup or sport utility vehicle began following the car in the area of Bonanza Road and Decatur, police said.

The pickup or SUV, described as small, blue or green and possibly having custom wheels, followed the car Larios was in as it turned from Decatur onto Carmen Boulevard.

The car Larios was in stopped near the intersection of Carmen and Yale Street and Larios got out. The pickup or SUV then pulled up next to Larios, and a person in the passenger seat fired one shot from a handgun striking Larios in the head, police said.

Two Hispanic teenage boys are believed to have been inside the vehicle that drove off northbound on Yale, police said. Police also think the passenger who fired at Larios may have had a shaved head.

There have been 20 homicides in Metro's jurisdiction this year compared with 11 in the same time period last year.

Anyone with information about these homicides is asked to call detectives at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.