No motive found in Halloween shooting death

Jace Radke

Friday, Nov. 2, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

Metro Police don't have a motive for a Halloween night slaying committed by a man in costume, but detectives are investigating whether the homicide could be related to drug trafficking.

Stanley M. Henderson, 31, who was found shot to death in front of his apartment, had been out of jail for a little more than a week after being arrested Oct. 20 on a drug trafficking charge, Metro homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

"The victim was obviously targeted for some reason, but we don't know what that is at this point," Petersen said.

About 10:30 p.m. a man wearing a green Halloween costume and mask came to the door of an apartment in the 200 block of West Van Buren Avenue, and when the door was opened, the gunman reportedly said "trick or treat" and started shooting.

Henderson, released from the Clark County Detention Center the same day he was arrested, was found dead outside the doorway of his apartment by police and paramedics.

A woman outside the apartment suffered a superficial gunshot wound in the foot and was treated at Lake Mead Hospital Medical Center in North Las Vegas.

Police later located another man who was in the apartment at the time of the shooting and suffered gunshot wounds in his legs, Petersen said. The man, found along Blankenship Avenue, originally claimed he had been shot in a drive-by. The man was treated for his wounds at University Medical Center.

Detectives have no suspects in the shooting, but witnesses report seeing a large dark-colored sedan and a white Suzuki sport utility vehicle leaving the area after the shooting.

The shooting took place on the south edge of a neighborhood centered around Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards. The area, plagued by gang violence, has had 14 homicides this year. There is no indication that the shooting was gang-related, Petersen said.

Anyone with information about this crime is urged to call homicide detectives at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.