Witnesses describe wild scene in casino

Mary Manning and Jeffrey Libby

Monday, April 29, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

As Friday night rolled over to Saturday morning, things went like any other during the Laughlin River Run -- motorcyclists gathered in casino bars talked and joked and partied into the night.

Inside Harrah's about 60 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang hung out, dropping $5 and $10 tips at the Margaritaville bar in the main casino, witnesses said. Members of the gang wore their bandanas and Mongols jackets and had knives on their belts, but witnesses said the atmosphere was more jovial than anything else.

The bar closed at 1 a.m. and the group moved to Rosa's Cantina, the casino's central bar, where the party continued until just a little after 2 a.m.

Investigators and witnesses said a group of Hells Angels came through Harrah's front doors, past the casino cage and into the bar. A fight broke out. Knives came out, along with wrenches, a hammer and then guns. One gang member seemed to be targeting people as he fired, witnesses said.

Three people, all gang members, were killed and 12 people were injured in the melee, police said. One man -- 33-year-old Calvin Schaffer, who is affiliated with the Hells Angels -- was in custody on murder charges.

"I looked up and the air in the casino turned blue from gunfire," said a California woman who was playing slots when she saw a man shot. "There were shots fired at random. Glass broke. People screamed and began ducking for cover."

"It was absolute panic in there, it was pandemonium," another California woman said.

Five people, all believed to be motorcycle gang members, were in University Medical Center in Las Vegas this morning with injuries from the fight.

A 47-year-old man in critical condition. Three men, ages 31, 29 and 43 were in serious condition. A 51-year-old is in fair condition.

Western Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City treated seven people. The last person was released Sunday.

Until Saturday there had never been a multiple murder inside a casino, Las Vegas historian Frank Wright said.

Police were in the casino within a couple minutes and had the situation quelled. Two officers fired their weapons, police said. One appeared to be an accident. Police were investigating both incidents.

Many casino workers and witnesses were afraid of retribution and declined to give their names for publication.

One waitress said that members of the Mongols, who were face down on the ground on order of the police, were yelling at potential witnesses, "You didn't see nothing! You didn't see nothing!"

Jim, a heavy equipment mechanic from Temecula, Calif., watched officers swarm into the casino.

"Nevada worked quick," he said. "They brought the biggest boys in. Then the whole cavalry came."

Metro Police said the scene unfolds on the tape from the casino surveillance cameras.

"We know exactly what happened in that casino," Metro Police Lt. Vince Cannito said. "Lots of shooting, lots of stabbing."

Police closed down the hotel for most of Saturday, questioned about 500 and made several arrests. Police are still investigating but the fight came from decades of bad blood between the two motorcycle gangs, both which originated in Southern California.

Investigators in California are looking for a link to the shooting of a motorcyclist found dead on the side of Interstate 40 early Saturday. San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said the victim, 29-year-old Christian Tate, was a member of the Hells Angels.

The Clark County Coroner's office today identified the three men killed in fight at Harrah's as California men. Police say they were all motorcycle gang members.

They are: Jeramie Dean Bell, 27, of Hughson, who was shot; Robert Emmet Tumelty, 50, of Stockton, who was shot; and Anthony Salvador Barrera, 43, of Rancho Cucamonga, who was stabbed.