News briefs for Sept. 24, 2002

Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

Girl, 14, on bike hit by car

A 14-year-old girl was in critical condition with life-threatening injuries Monday night after being hit by a vehicle while riding her bicycle near the intersection of Sahara Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, Metro Police Lt. Morris Mattingly said.

The accident, which happened around 7 p.m., was still under investigation late Monday.

The girl's name was not released.

Two men sought in bar shooting

Metro Police today were comparing records of recent Las Vegas bar holdups to determine if a man who shot a bartender in a botched robbery early Monday may have attempted other local heists.

However police say they have only vague descriptions from which to work in Monday's 12:13 a.m. robbery of the Dean's Den bar at 4804 S. Nellis Blvd. near Tropicana Avenue.

The shooting left a 67-year-old bartender with a bullet lodged in the skin and bone under his right eyebrow, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was in serious condition today at the University Medical Center.

"We're combing through other recent robberies to see if there are similarities," Metro robbery Lt. Ted Snodgrass. "However, we already have caught or identified most of the suspects in these type of robberies."

On Monday, two men walked into the Dean's Den and ordered customers to the floor, Snodgrass said. One man jumped on a bar and brandished a stainless steel revolver, according to witnesses.

The bartender also produced a gun but had trouble with the safety, police said. The robber fired twice, hitting the bartender once, police said.

Snodgrass said it does not appear the robbers got any money.

The two men fled out the back door and were seen jumping over a wall.

6,800 families get utilities help

The state Public Utilities Commission says an energy assistance program, enacted by the 2001 Legislature, has helped 6,800 Nevada families pay their electric and natural gas bills in the past year.

The Legislature, in a bill championed by Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, imposed a surcharge on all monthly bills, with the money going to help low-income households meet their payments.

Commission Chairman Don Soderberg said 75 percent of the money collected went to the state Welfare Division for energy assistance payments. The other 25 percent went to the state Housing Division for weatherizing homes.

Soderberg said the PUC kept its administration costs below the authorized 3 percent, which means an additional $43,000 will reach low-income homes this year and about $200,000 more per year in subsequent years.

Man killed as he returns home

A North Las Vegas man was shot and killed Monday night when he arrived home to find three men in his house.

The incident happened about 7 p.m. in the 3300 block of Bay Horse Court, near Cheyenne Avenue and Valley Drive.

The victim, whose name has not been released by the Clark County coroner, was using the garage to enter the house when he was confronted by the three men and shot three times, North Las Vegas Police said.

The suspects had earlier kidnapped another man at gunpoint, and drove that man to the home in the 3300 block of Bay Horse, police said. The victim arrived a few minutes after the suspects, police said.

North Las Vegas Police believe that the homicide is drug related, and have no description of the suspects.

Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call police at 633-177 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Driver killed in collision with truck

A Las Vegas man was killed Monday morning when the car he was driving collided with a gravel truck on the Las Vegas Beltway near El Capitan Way.

Marc Ryan Sheehan, 27, was traveling eastbound in a Honda at about 75 mph, and passing traffic in a no-passing zone, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Olschlager said.

The gravel truck was headed west on the beltway and tried to avoid the oncoming Honda, but the vehicles collided. Sheehan died at the scene. No one else was injured in the accident.

Man killed in crash identified

A Los Angeles man killed Sunday in a one car accident on Interstate 15 south of the Blue Diamond Road exit has been identified as 23-year-old Alejandro Garcia-Barrajas.

Garcia-Barrajas was a passenger in a car that crashed through a sign and came to a stop about 70 feet off the road, a Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman said.

The driver of the car, Douglas Roman, 31, of Los Angeles, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.