Search for trio wanted in slaying of two armored car guards continues

Robert Macy

Sunday, March 5, 2000 | 9:46 a.m.

Authorities say a nationwide alert has failed to turn up three men accused of gunning down two armored car guards in an ambush at a strip mall.

Lt. Jutta Chambers of the Henderson Police Department said late Saturday it is believed the three men may still be in Southern Nevada.

Hospitals throughout the area were alerted for anyone seeking treatment of a leg wound.

Police say one of the suspects was shot by one of the guards.

Two suspects opened fire on the guards with automatic weapons Friday as one guard got out of the vehicle at a Ross Dress for Less store in Henderson, on the southeast side of Las Vegas.

The two guards were identified as Richard F. Sosa, 47, and Gary Dean Prestidge, 23, both of Las Vegas. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Sosa was the father of five children.

Chambers said the men fled the area in a dark mini-van or sport utility vehicle, possibly with Texas license plates.

"It obviously was not your run-of-the-mill robbery," Henderson police Chief Michael Mayberry said. "This was well-planned."

Two robbers gunned down the first guard as he walked toward the store with a bag of money. The second guard, the driver, was shot when he heard the shooting and went to investigate, police Capt. Richard Perkins said.

Police believe one of the guards exchanged gunfire with a robber and wounded him, possibly in the leg. They found blood in an abandoned getaway car.

The chief said he did not know how much money was taken.

The robbers switched cars a short distance from the strip mall.

Mayberry said the three men arrived at the mall separately in two vans and a car. The men in the vans got out and began shooting while the third waited in the car.

"The two vans that were laying in wait to ambush the driver had been there about 2 1/2 hours," Perkins said. "It was planned out far enough in advance."