Suspect in 9-year-old homicide nabbed

Keith Paul

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 10:42 a.m.

A 26-year-old man wanted in connection with a 1991 Las Vegas shooting death was nabbed as he crossed the Arizona border from Mexico.

A United States Border Patrol agent checked a nationwide criminal information computer database Tuesday afternoon and found Ramon Calderon, 26, was wanted on a murder warrant. Calderon was arrested at the border near Yuma, Ariz., Metro Police homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

Calderon was one of group of five men accused of attacking 20-year-old Ruben DeLa Torre-Ureno and two of his friends on June 15, 1991, in the 4200 block of Charlotte Drive.

DeLa Torre-Ureno and his friends were asked by the group of men what gang they were with. When they said they weren't with a gang, the five men are accused of starting to beat them clubs and steel bars, Petersen said.

During the attack, one of the gang members shot DeLa Torre-Ureno once in the back. DeLa Torre-Ureno was taken to University Medical Center, but died a short time later, police said.

Calderon is being held in Arizona and will be extradited back to Las Vegas to face the murder charges, police said.

Three of the five gang members have been arrested and convicted in connection with the beatings and slaying. A fifth man, Juan Carlos Escamilla, 27, is still wanted in connection with the slaying.

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