Shooting draws 40 years

Kim Smith

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 10:42 a.m.

An 18-year-old gang member was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison in connection with the first of two shootings in which he has pleaded guilty.

Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said Maynor Villanueva will serve the 16- to 40-year prison sentence at the same time as the sentence he will receive June 7 in a Clark High School shooting.

Villanueva could get a 50-year sentence, life without the possibility of parole or life with the possibility of parole after 20 years in the school shooting case, Kane said.

According to authorities, Villanueva and Tony Tejada, 16, were members of a splinter group of a Las Vegas gang and on Oct. 2 one or both of them fired shots at a rival gang member's house on Magnolia Avenue. Two teens were shot, one of whom had to have her spleen removed.

Nine days later, Villanueva and Tejada were together when Villanueva opened fire on a crowd gathered outside Clark High School. Two students escaped with wounds to their arms.

Wednesday's sentencing by District Judge John McGroarty was in connection with the Magnolia Avenue shooting. Villanueva pleaded guilty to attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon in that case. He pleaded guilty in the other case to attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon on school grounds.

Tejada last week entered a plea agreement in which he conceded that Kane has enough evidence to convict him of battery with the use of a deadly weapon in the high school incident. He also said Kane can prove it was gang-related.

Tejada faces four to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced June 22.