Rooftop shooter kills one

Jen Lawson and Jace Radke

Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

Metro Police arrested a man this morning after he allegedly fired a high-powered rifle from the roof of an apartment building at 15th and Fremont streets, killing one person and injuring two others.

After a standoff lasting about three hours, police arrested Ricky Horn, 32, of Pennsylvania, at 7:15 a.m. Horn told police he had been up all night drinking and doing drugs, Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, said.

Horn allegedly told SWAT negotiators he had been in the area for three months and was upset that he could not find a job.

There were outstanding warrants for Horn's arrest in Pennsylvania, and police recovered a high-powered rifle at the scene of the shooting, Montoya said. Horn is being charged with attempted murder, attempted murder of a police officer and one charge of murder.

A Metro officer suffered a hand injury during the shooting from flying debris. The other shooting victim is a 31-year-old man who suffered a chest wound and was in critical condition on life support machines at University Medical Center at 10:15 a.m. today, authorities said.

Police did not release the identities of the two shooting victims this morning.

About 3 a.m., Metro's 911 center received calls about a man firing random shots from the roof of the South Cove Apartments, 1525 E. Fremont St.

Officers responded and were driving down an alley near the apartment building when bullets hit their cruisers, Montoya said.

As officers were backing down the alley to avoid getting hit again, they spotted a man in the alley with gunshot wounds to his chest.

"He said, 'I just got hit! I just got hit!' " Montoya said.

The officers pulled the man into their cruiser and continued backing down the alley to get away from the gunfire.

The suspect went into a second-floor apartment, and hostage negotiators got him on the phone. He said he was holding a woman hostage and she was bound and gagged. Police later learned there was no hostage, Montoya said.

Before they discovered that, however, the SWAT team had arrived, and the sniper fired shots at them from the apartment window so officers backed off, Montoya said.

As other officers arrived and cordoned off several blocks, they found a body in the alley, Montoya said.

"They saw blood coming from his head, and they were yelling, 'Are you OK?' " he said. The victim didn't respond.

After negotiating with the alleged sniper for about three hours, the man surrendered about 7:15 a.m.

"He said, 'I'm tired, I'm coming out, bring it on,' " Montoya said. The suspect came out of the apartment, unarmed, and was taken into custody.

The shootings and the standoff caused several neighborhoods in the area to be blocked off by police.

Joe Goldberg said he was riding his bike eastbound on Fremont Street at 15th Street when he noticed three Metro police cars stopped near a 7-Eleven store. He then heard four shots, dumped his bike and jumped to the ground.

"After I got out of the way the next thing I noticed were tons of police cars speeding into the area," said Goldberg, 48. "They were skidding in with the sirens on at, like, 100 miles per hour. The only thing I could think of was that I didn't want to be in the middle of this."

Goldberg, who works in the casino industry and was on his way to a business meeting on Fremont Street this morning, said "Thank God the police handled it immediately. In the back of my mind, I was just glad I didn't get shot.'

Ross Wicklund, 52, said that as a resident of the decade for about a decade, he was not surprised by Tuesday morning's violence. Wicklund was on his way to give blood at a donation center on Fremont Street near 15th Street when the incident unfolded.

Crime and police responses in the neighborhood are "fairly regular," Wicklund said.

About 75 to 100 units were evacuated in the South Cove Apartments. All of the residents evacuated from their complex were taken to the Las Vegas Academy, a magnet school housed in the former Las Vegas High School campus.

Linda Shillingstad, dean of Las Vegas Academy located near the scene at 315 S. 7th St., said Metro called about 4:30 a.m. and said they needed to use the school to house residents who were evacuated from the apartment building.

Between 30 and 40 people were brought to the school gym about 5:45 a.m., and Principal Bob Gerye bought them doughnuts and milk, Shillingstad said. The school opened at the regular time.

Rose Morris, 50, and Joe Powers, 37, live in Building C of the South Cove apartments. The shots coming from building E woke them up.

"We were sleeping but I woke right up when I heard the shots," Powers said. "Rose covered her head with the blankets. I guess her side of the bed was bulletproof."

A few minutes later, Powers opened the door and peeked out. An officer told him to stay inside and stay away from windows.

At 7:30 a.m., after Horn was arrested, another officer came by and told them it was safe to come out. Their dogs, an Austrailian Shepard named Precious and a retriever-setter mix named Red, needed to be walked, so Morris and Powers took them outside.

Two hours later, Morris and Powers were still outside, standing on Bruce Street in front of the yellow police tape with their dogs while other residents of the apartment complex sat on the complex lawn in their night clothes.