Officer’s gunshot did not kill biker

Keith Paul

Thursday, May 16, 2002 | 10:09 a.m.

A Metro Police sergeant returned to duty Wednesday after ballistics tests determined the gunshot he fired during a deadly brawl in Laughlin did not hit a slain biker gang member, officials told the Sun.

Sgt. Gary Hood, 54, fired a shot at a Hells Angels member April 27 during the massive fight between the Angels and the Mongols motorcycle gang at Harrah's Laughlin during the annual River Run bike rally. A Hells Angels member was found dead in the parking lot.

"Ballistics testing showed that the bullet in the dead Hells Angel was not fired from (Hood's) gun," Deputy Chief Ray Flynn said.

An autopsy also showed there was no wound where a bullet would have passed into and then out of the man's body, Flynn said.

Once Hood was cleared of firing the shot he was put back on active duty. He had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Hood saw a number of Hells Angels going into the hotel as the confrontation between the rival gangs was escalating. Hood went into Harrah's and saw three Hells Angels trying to leave, Flynn said.

Hood drew his handgun, and police say one of the Hells Angels pulled a gun and raised it toward Hood. The sergeant then fired one shot at the man. Hood then glanced at the two other men and saw that they had run away. When Hood looked back toward the man he just fired at, he saw that man had also fled, Flynn said.

A Hells Angels member was later found in the parking lot dead of a gunshot wound from a .45 caliber bullet. Hood's handgun is a .45 caliber weapon, Flynn said.

Police also found a .45 caliber bullet -- which turned out to be Hood's -- in a kitchen grill.

Three bikers, all from California, died in the fight. Two Hells Angels -- Jeramie Dean Bell, 27, and Robert E. Tumelty, 50 -- were found shot to death. Police did not say which one was found in the parking lot. A Mongols biker -- Anthony Salvador Barrera, 43 -- was stabbed to death.

Another 12 people were hospitalized after the fight, which involved between 70 and 100.