Police say killing was coincidence

Keith Paul

Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

A man killed by North Las Vegas Police in August during a drug raid is the uncle of a 22-year-old man accused in the June shooting of a Metro Police officer -- a fact police said Thursday is just a coincidence.

Willie Whitmore, an aunt of the man who was killed, said she has an opinion about the coincidence but then said, "I'm going to keep that to myself right now."

Whitmore said she will be at the Clark County coroner's inquest when testimony starts today to determine if officers Wayne Blackard and Christopher Corrado were justified in the shooting death of 54-year-old Johnnie Weatherspoon, who fired several shots and struck one of the officers.

About two months before that fatal drug raid, Metro Officer Pete Rossi was shot in the face when one of three fleeing robbers fired at him as they were making their getaway after holding up a Macayo Vegas restaurant. About 17 hours after the June 14 shooting of Rossi, Markus Weatherspoon, 22, was arrested and booked on attempted murder, robbery and other charges. Rossi lost sight in one eye as a result of the shooting.

North Las Vegas Police Lt. Art Redcay said officers had no idea that Johnnie Weatherspoon was related to Markus Weatherspoon when they raided his apartment.

"The investigation that led to the search warrant had been ongoing," he said. "It wasn't something that erupted overnight."

Redcay said it wasn't until a day or two after Johnnie Weatherspoon was shot that a detective said he thought there may be some relationship to Markus Weatherspoon.

"The (narcotics) officers didn't know about it. It wasn't even them that said the two were related, it was a detective that wasn't working on the (shooting case) who said it while sitting in the office," Redcay said.

Johnnie Weatherspoon was killed about 9:15 p.m. Aug. 30 when Blackard and Corrado, two of several narcotics officers serving a warrant at Weatherspoon's apartment, encountered the 54-year-old man in a bedroom. Police said Weatherspoon confronted the two officers with a handgun and fired at them, hitting Blackard in the hand with another bullet absorbed by Blackard's body armor.

Both officers fired at Weatherspoon, hitting him several times.

In the Rossi case, two other men -- Darnell Graham Harris and Terrance Winn -- have been arrested and accused of being the other robbers involved. Police suspect Harris was the one who fired the shot at Rossi, said Lt. Wayne Petersen of Metro's homicide unit.

Both Weatherspoons had previous encounters with Metro and North Las Vegas police.

Metro had arrested Johnnie Weatherspoon previously on drug-related charges and North Las Vegas Police had an ongoing drug-related investigation involving him.

Markus Weatherspoon had previously been arrested on domestic battery and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime charges.

Markus Weatherspoon was also wanted at the time by Los Angeles Police and North Las Vegas Police on drug-related charges. He and the other suspects in the Rossi shooting are in the county jail awaiting trial.