Local news briefs for July 24, 2000

Monday, July 24, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

Death of man, 77, investigated

Metro Police homicide detectives continue to investigate the death of a 77-year-old man who may have been the victim of a burglary.

A resident noticed his neighbor's door was open Friday about 4 p.m. in the 2200 block of Goldhill Way, near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Vegas Drive. After getting no response to calls into the house, the resident called police.

Leo Spiegler was found dead face down on the floor in one of the bedrooms. He appeared to have suffered some kind of unknown trauma, homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning said.

Police do not know if anything is missing from the home, but it was ransacked, Manning said.

The exact cause of death is being investigated by the Clark County coroner's office and had not been determined as of this morning.

Spiegler's wife had been out, and was waiting for her husband to pick her up, but when he didn't arrive she called a friend for a ride.

Spiegler's death was the 56th homicide in Metro Police's jurisdiction this year, compared with 57 at the same time last year.

Anyone who has information about Spiegler's death is asked to call detectives at 229-3521 or Secret Witness 385-5555.

Gunfire leaves one dead, one critical

One man was killed and another remains in critical condition at University Medical Center after a man reportedly opened fire on his neighbors over an incident of urinating in public early Saturday morning.

Damon Lamar Campbell, 25, was arrested at his girlfriend's apartment directly in front of where the shooting happened, and booked into the Clark County jail on murder with a deadly weapon charges, Metro Police homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner said.

At about 1:30 a.m. shots were fired in the 2900 block of Elm Avenue, near Eastern Avenue and U.S. 95, when witnesses say an altercation culminated with Campbell firing into a group of neighbors and their friends.

Two men were found shot in the alley to the rear of the 2900 block of Elm, Hefner said. Luis A. Martinez, 32, of Las Vegas was dead at the scene. The other man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound.

Martinez's slaying Saturday night was the 57th homicide in Metro's jurisdiction this year compared with 58 at the same time last year.

Pedestrian killed despite warning

A motorist tried to warn a pedestrian to get out of the street Friday night but the pedestrian attempted to cross Charleston Boulevard anyway and was hit and killed by a car a short time later.

Metro Police say the pedestrian, who has not yet been identified, was attempting to cross Charleston west of Spencer Street at about 11:40 p.m. when a man stopped and told him to get out of the roadway.

After the motorist had moved a short distance down Charleston the pedestrian walked into the path of a Ford van headed eastbound. The pedestrian died at the scene. There are indications the pedestrian had been consuming alcohol, police said.

The death marks the 50th fatal accident in Metro's jurisdiction this year.