Local news briefs for January 22, 2001

Monday, Jan. 22, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

Girl, 15, killed in shooting

Metro Police have arrested three teenagers on charges of murder after an early morning shooting took the life of a 15-year-old girl Saturday.

Esmeralda Martinez was shot and killed as she stood with Miguel Jimenez-Arambula in a doorway at a home in the 900 block of Robin Street, near Washington Avenue and Rancho Drive, police said.

A Metro K-9 officer was in the area at the time and pulled over a sport utility vehicle identified as the suspect vehicle, Sgt. Ken Hefner said.

The three teens in the SUV, Richard Macias, 18, Isvi Fabila, 17, and Eduardo Cisneros, 16, were arrested and charged with murder with a weapon, attempted murder, firing into an occupied structure and possession of a stolen firearm.

Jimenez-Arambula also was shot, but suffered only a minor injury, and was arrested on unrelated charges and warrants, Hefner said.

The homicide is gang-related, Hefner said.

Homeless shelter is evacuated

Metro Police arrested a former resident of St. Vincent's homeless shelter in connection with a suspected bomb found at the shelter on Friday afternoon.

Robert Whitefell, 33, was charged with a gross misdemeanor of possession of a hoax device after the shelter at Las Vegas Boulevard North and Owens Avenue was evacuated for more than three hours on Friday.

Administrators found a device in the shelter that looked like a bomb, police said. The Las Vegas Fire Department's bomb squad rendered the device safe, and the shelter was reopened Friday night.

Charges filed in crash death

An 18-year-old Las Vegas man has been indicted in connection with a car accident that killed a 16-year-old boy in October.

According to the indictment unsealed Friday, Christopher David Sobalvarro was driving in an unsafe manner when he lost control of his vehicle, traveled across two lanes of traffic and onto a center median on Horizon Ridge Parkway near Green Valley Parkway. The car then hit a street light broadside, fatally injuring his passenger, Darien Wright.

Sobalvarro was indicted on one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of reckless driving.

Sobalvarro was treated at University Medical Center and released.

BLM plan is criticized

Residents in southern Douglas County are voicing their concerns over a controlled burn planned in the Pine Nut Mountains.

Not long after Bureau of Land Management officials announced details of the plan two weeks ago, they began to hear from residents in the Jack Wright Summit area who are opposed to the idea.

A number of residents wanted to know more about the plan and why it was needed, said BLM fire ecologist Tim Roide. But he acknowledged the comments have ranged from worry and concern to outright anger.

The public comment period ends Feb. 16.

Prescribed burns have been used to reduce the threat of major wildland fires. But the practice has been called into question in recent years because of dramatic mistakes in implementing the policy.

The courtesy dock

at Callville Bay Marina on Lake Mead is scheduled to be removed from the water for treatment on Feb. 5. The removal is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area's maintenance crew's regular upkeep schedule. It was last treated about 18 months ago, and will go back in service on Feb. 7.