3 die in shooting incidents

Thursday, Aug. 8, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

Two separate shooting incidents left three people dead in the Las Vegas Valley Wednesday night, Metro Police said.

About 8:30 p.m. gunfire erupted at Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards, Metro Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said.

When officers arrived, Reginald Slaughter, 18, of Las Vegas was dead at the scene. Thomas Sterling, 22, of Las Vegas was taken to University Medical Center Trauma Center where he was pronounced dead.

The shooting is believed to be gang related, Monahan said.

Witnesses told detectives that the victims were in a blue sedan stopped at a red light. A gold colored Jeep Cherokee with dark tinted windows stopped alongside the victims' car, Monahan said.

After shots were fired, the Jeep turned westbound on Lake Mead. The victims' car crossed the intersection, stopping in a fast-food restaurant's parking lot.

In a separate incident, the body of a woman who had been reported missing was found in a vehicle, dead from apparent gunshot wounds, Monahan said. The woman was found about 8:30 p.m. in the 3000 block of Builders Avenue, near Charleston Boulevard and Mojave Road.

The woman had left work during the afternoon, but failed to return. The woman was expected to meet with her estranged husband, Frank Marques, Monahan said.

Metro detectives said Marques is wanted for questioning. He is a white male, 43 years old, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Marques drives a 1984 GMC pickup with Nevada license plate 170 NCB. The truck is rust-colored.

Police ask anyone who sees him to call Metro detectives at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.