Police continue to track down robbers

Keith Paul

Friday, June 16, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

A swarm of Metro Police officers flooded into a West Las Vegas neighborhood and arrested a man Thursday less than 17 hours after an officer was shot in the face after a restaurant robbery.

This morning police are still searching for two more men accused of robbing the Macayo Vegas restaurant, 4457 W. Charleston Blvd., just before 11 p.m. Wednesday. As the trio fled the scene, one of the robbers fired shots at Officer Pete Rossi. One bullet hit Rossi in the chin and traveled up his face into his eye.

Police took 22-year-old Marcus Weatherspoon into custody at a duplex at 1297 N St. about 3:15 p.m. The green and white stucco building faces east on N Street and backs up to Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, police had flooded the area near the home searching for suspects, but found nothing. After getting a tip that Weatherspoon could be at the duplex, officers again moved into the area Thursday afternoon and made the arrest.

Weatherspoon, who was held in the Clark County jail this morning without bond, faces a host of charges including attempted murder, robbery and kidnapping. Police were still investigating to determine which of the suspects fired the shot at Rossi.

"Even though he was shot and in pain, Officer Rossi was able to get on the radio and provide a detailed description of the suspects," Sheriff Jerry Keller said.

Rossi, who was recognized for valor for his actions as one of the first officers on the scene of last June's Albertson's grocery store shooting where four people were killed, was listed in good condition this morning in University Medical Center, but Keller said he has lost sight in the wounded eye.

The investigation into the robbery and shooting continues to focus on identifying the two other suspects. But police also said they are checking into links to any former employees of the Macayo Vegas and the robbery.

"We're looking into possible connections between Weatherspoon and any former employees of the restaurant," Lt. Wayne Petersen said. "We're looking into all aspects of this crime during the investigation."

Police discovered Thursday that the house where Weatherspoon was arrested was rented to a woman who had rented a green Dodge Intrepid, which two suspects were seen in early Thursday morning.

The three suspects are accused of a series of violent acts starting with the 10:57 p.m. Wednesday robbery.

Police said that shortly before 11 p.m., three men entered the closed Macayo restaurant through the back door on Arville Street and demanded money from the employees, Keller said.

One of the employees was pistol-whipped and kicked, and the men escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.

Rossi was responding to the 911 call from the restaurant and pulled onto Arville Street -- the street behind the shopping center -- when three men ran across the street toward a getaway car. One of the suspects fired at least two shots. One bullet traveled through the police cruiser's windshield into Rossi's face.

The three men drove a brown Chevy Blazer through the Westland Fair shopping center parking lot bordered by Arville Street and Charleston and Decatur boulevards. The suspects ditched the vehicle on a grassy median in the parking lot near The Big Game Club, 4747 Faircenter Parkway Lane, and left two guns in the Blazer.

One of the guns, a 9 mm handgun, had been reported stolen June 7 in the burglary of a car and the other gun, a .357-caliber revolver, has its serial number obliterated, Keller said.

Two of the suspects ran to the nearby Olive Garden restaurant and kidnapped a woman just getting off work less than three minutes after Rossi was shot.

The woman was forced into her 1991 Chevy Blazer and later released near Rancho Drive and Bonanza Road. The stolen Blazer was found about 1:40 a.m. in the 1300 block of Monroe Avenue near H Street.

Police didn't know about the kidnapping until about 1 a.m., when the woman contacted officers. She apparently had called her family after being released by the suspects and didn't contact police for about 90 minutes.

"We are in the process of identifying the suspects to take this peril from our streets," Keller said. "These men are armed and are obviously very dangerous."

Weatherspoon, described by Keller as having "a very violent past," has previous arrests for domestic battery and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime. He is wanted in North Las Vegas and Los Angeles on drug-related charges.

Police have discovered a link between Weatherspoon and the woman who rented the brown Chevy Blazer used as the getaway car.

The brown Chevy Blazer abandoned by the three robbers was rented in April by a woman who knows Weatherspoon. She failed to return it to an Alamo Rent-A-Car agency. The rental agency was going through the process that would end in a criminal complaint if she didn't return the truck, Petersen said.

"We don't know exactly what her relationship is to Weatherspoon. We believe she knows him," Petersen said. "She certainly may be facing criminal charges, not necessarily in connection with the robbery, but we know that she embezzled the Blazer."

When police went to her home early Thursday in the area of Cheyenne Avenue and Torrey Pines Drive, officers spotted the green Dodge Intrepid containing at least two of the suspects. The car was able to elude the pursuing officers. The Dodge is rented to another woman who lives on N Street in the home where Weatherspoon was arrested.

As Metro officers continue to scour Las Vegas looking for the outstanding suspects, other Las Vegas Valley departments are offering whatever help they can to catch the men.

North Las Vegas Police officers were watching their streets for any signs of the suspects in Rossi's shooting.

"All officers are being given the releases of the suspect description and are being asked to contact anyone they know and informants to raise any information in the case," said Lt. Chris Larotonda of North Las Vegas Police's investigations unit.

The second suspect still being sought is described as a black male who is 18 to 20 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 135 pounds. He had his hair in two short pigtails about an inch long and tied with yellow rubber bands. He was wearing a loose-fitting black T-shirt and tan or gray pants with red underwear showing over the top of the pants.

The third suspect was only described as a black male who was wearing a dark cap and a rubber mask of a "Star Wars" character.

Rossi, a three-year Metro veteran, has also been a police officer at the Seaside Heights, N.J., department. Rossi's mother, an aunt, and a friend who is a police officer in New Jersey flew to Las Vegas Thursday.

When Rossi is ready to come back to work, Keller said he will be welcomed back to the force.

"We know he'll be back to work soon and released to full duty," Keller said. "He may not be able to be a patrol officer because of his sight, but he certainly could be a detective. We have 3,800 positions here, there will alway be one for him."