Police believe latest killing linked to others in N. Las Vegas

Kim Smith

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

Authorities believe a 25-year-old North Las Vegas man found shot to death in a bar bathroom over the weekend was connected to at least two other shootings, including the May 2000 shooting of a school bus driver.

A prosecutor says Charles Fields' life and death provide a glimpse of what is going on in the violence-wracked neighborhood near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards, where 13 lives have been lost so far this year as a result of gang violence.

Deputy District Attorney Michael O'Callaghan said police believe Fields' death may be connected to the 1999 shooting death of James "June Bug" Lee, 25.

Sources on the street have told police that Fields bought a large amount of cocaine from Lee, then refused to pay for the drugs.

The dispute apparently led to one of Fields' friends being shot in the buttocks and to Lee being fatally shot three days later in retaliation, O'Callaghan said.

On May 17, 2000, police say one of Lee's uncles, Alan Boyd, confronted Fields about Lee's death near H Street and Doolittle Avenue.

Over the course of the next few minutes, 30 gunshots rang out, five vehicles were struck by gunfire and a Clark County School District bus driver ended up in the hospital with two bullet wounds.

According to court documents, one of the shots went through a vehicle being driven by a woman with a child inside, showering them both with glass.

Another bullet went through the window of a school bus and hit the driver.

Another bullet hit the bumper of another occupied car behind the bus.

Boyd surrendered to an officer who arrived at the scene.

Fields was arrested two days later after Boyd identified him in a photo lineup.

Curiously, police and prosecutors identified Fields as both a victim and a suspect.

They said Fields was the victim of an attempted murder, but he was also the suspect in the school bus shooting.

Fields was charged with battery on a school employee with substantial bodily harm or two counts of discharging a firearm at or into a vehicle. He was scheduled to go to trial in March.

If convicted, Fields could have received a two- to 15-year sentence on the battery charge, O'Callaghan said.

Boyd and an accomplice, Kortney Johnson, were both charged with attempted murder.

Johnson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and is serving a four- to 10-year prison sentence, O'Callaghan said.

The state charges were dismissed against Boyd to clear the way for federal authorities to pursue two federal firearms charges against him, O'Callaghan said.

Fields' body was found at the Heritage Lounge on West Owens Avenue early Saturday.

Hours later Vernon Craft, who had a murder charge dismissed against him in March, was found suffering from several gunshot wounds in a yard in the 2000 block of West Lake Mead Boulevard. He later died at University Medical Center.

North Las Vegas police believe Craft was shot in retaliation for Fields.

The gang violence has been centered in the area of Martin Luther King Boulevard between Carey Avenue and Lake Mead Boulevard, and police say the school bus driver isn't the only innocent victim.

Latasha Washington, 18, was walking in a group of people on Hart Avenue, near Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards in March when a car slowed down and a gunman inside sprayed bullets at them, killing Washington.

On Feb. 15 church deacon Floyd Wilson was driving down Carey Avenue near West Street when a gunman started firing at another car. Wilson was hit by a bullet and killed. The intended target, the driver of the other car, sped away unharmed, and the gunman fled the area.

Also, Gwendolyn Jones, 35, was killed in a drive-by while attending her sister's wake in the 2600 block of West Street on May 25.