Monday, June 12, 2000 | 11:53 a.m.
A violent weekend ended this morning with a fourth slaying when a man was found shot to death on the sidewalk in the northwest part of Las Vegas.
The 25-year-old man was found on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds shortly before 1 a.m. on Jackson Avenue near F Street and was transported to the University Medical Center, where he died a short time later, Metro Police said.
Witnesses told police the man was standing in front of the building when a person approached with a rifle and shot the victim several times. Police believe the shooting was the result of a prior dispute involving the two individuals.
A vehicle left the scene as did a number of potential witnesses, police said, noting that there were conflicting vehicle descriptions given by those who remained to talk to investigators.
The Clark County Coroner's office said authorities have not yet positively identified the man and thus have not contacted his relatives.
The violent weekend started about 1:40 a.m. Saturday when an apparent act of road rage between two drivers led to a fatal shooting.
Neighbors near Walnut Avenue and 21st Street reported hearing gunshots and seeing a pickup crash into a parked car, Lt. Wayne Petersen said.
Police found two people inside the pickup with gunshot wounds. Leombardo Bernaba-Naranjo, 16, died at the scene, while the second passenger in the pickup was taken to University Medical Center, where he was in critical condition this morning.
The driver of the pickup, who also had been shot, ran from the accident scene and was later found at a nearby friend's house. He also was taken to UMC and released Sunday.
"The driver was able to give a statement and told us that a van cut him off in the area of Charleston Boulevard and 25th Street," Petersen said. "An argument followed, and he says someone in the van fired at the pickup."
Despite the injuries, the driver of the pickup was able to follow the van and ram the driver's side before crashing. Detectives found blue paint on the pickup, Petersen said.
Two people were also found shot to death within an hour of each other in unrelated slayings Saturday afternoon.
Gregory Lee Simon was found shot to death about noon in the 1200 block of Hassell Avenue near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards in his neighbor's back yard, police and the coroner's office said.
Neighbors said they heard gunfire in the area between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Friday, and detectives are looking into reports that the victim and another man had gotten into a dispute Friday night.
Homicides detectives were then called to an apartment in the 400 block of South 10th Street about 1 p.m., where a 31-year-old Las Vegas man was apparently shot to death.
A friend of the man went to the apartment to check on him and found his friend's front door had been kicked in, then discovered the victim dead inside, Petersen said.
The name was withheld until the man's family is notified.
Neighbors told police that they heard some kind of disturbance coming from the victim's apartment Thursday night.
The weekend slaying brought this year's homicide total in Metro's jurisdiction to 48, compared with 41 at the same time last year.
Anyone with information about any of the slayings is asked to call Metro's homicide unit 229-3521, or Secret Witness at 385-5555.
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