Six charged in shooting death of NLV woman

Keith Paul

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

Nearly seven months after prosecutors dropped charges in a gang-related shooting that killed a woman mourning her sister's death, North Las Vegas Police charged six suspects again.

This time police were armed with grand jury indictments.

Detectives used further investigation and a little luck to gather more evidence to allow prosecutors to move forward on the charges in the May 25, 2001, slaying of 35-year-old Gwendolyn Jones.

On Wednesday a Clark County grand jury indicted Perry Macklin, Corey Johnson, Anthony Hampton, Joey Clark, Jamario Macklin and Jamon Donnelle Brooks on murder charges.

Police arrested Perry Macklin and Johnson at their homes Wednesday night. Hampton turned himself in at the police department. Clark and Jamario Macklin were already in jail on other charges. Police searched Thursday night for Brooks, but could not find him, Sgt. Frank DeMartino said.

"We were very frustrated when the prosecutors dismissed the charges, but two detectives went out and found more evidence to get the true bill (indictments) from the grand jury," DeMartino said.

Police also got a little luck a few months ago when a patrol officer spotted an AK-47 assault rifle inside a parked car by a gathering of people -- including Hampton -- on a street corner.

Police determined through ballistics that it was the gun used in the slaying, DeMartino said.

"Getting the gun and other information helped give us enough to make the (investigative) package good enough to go to a grand jury," DeMartino said.

Police also determined that Ramond Bradford, a man suspected in the slaying but who was killed on Aug. 22 in a suspected gang-related shooting, was not involved in Jones' killing.

On May 25, 2001, Jones was standing on the lawn of her West Street home during a wake for her sister, who died of lung cancer and was buried earlier that day. Scores of people were on the lawn when a car drove by, and a passenger leaned out the window and sprayed the crowd with bullets. Jones was killed and four others -- including an 8-year-old girl -- were hit by bullets. Jones was not involved in gangs, but others at the wake may have been, police said at the time of the slaying. A witness told police that the men had been seen driving past the site before the shooting.

On Aug. 23 and 24, police arrested the group of men, but about a week later prosecutors dismissed the charges and released the men from jail, saying there was not enough evidence to go to trial.

"At this point we don't have sufficient evidence to support the charges," David Barker, a Clark County chief deputy district attorney, said at the time. "We need more information before we can file (the murder charges). We need witnesses to step forward."

So for the next seven months detectives continued to work on the case. They found more witnesses, which led to key information, DeMartino said.

The dismissal of charges was especially frustrating for police because the slaying was one of a dozen in the area of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue. And it was not the only gang-related killing case to come apart once arrests were made.

Residents have said they are fearful of retaliation if they talk to police about shootings. Such was the case with Vernon Craft. He was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 19-year-old suspected gang member, but the charges were dropped. He was then charged in a drive-by shooting last year and those charges were also dropped.

On July 22 Craft was found shot to death on West Lake Mead Boulevard. Police suspect he was killed in retaliation for a slaying that happened the day before.