News briefs for July 21, 2003

Monday, July 21, 2003 | 9:37 a.m.

Man found fatally shot in his car

A man was found shot to death in his car around 11:45 Sunday night on the Lone Mountain Road overpass on U.S. 95.

Metro Police said witnesses reported seeing the man drive his car alongside a silver Suzuki sport utility vehicle in the Santa Fe hotel parking lot. The vehicles drove out of the parking lot and turned east on Lone Mountain Road.

Witnesses told police the driver of the Suzuki, a black woman with braids, pulled up to the victim's car and a male passenger fired several times.

The victim, who as of this morning had not been positively identified, made a U-turn and drove west on Lone Mountain, where he crashed into the barrier, police said.

Anyone with information in the case is urged to contact Crime Stopper at 385-5555 or Metro Homicide at 229-3521.

Man shot to death in North Las Vegas

North Las Vegas Police are asking for the public's help after a 35-year-old man was shot and killed Saturday morning in the 2500 block of Bassler Street, north of Carey Avenue.

Police received several calls about 11 a.m. from the area, reporting three to seven shots had been fired. Rescue workers found Octavio Arredondo, 35, of Las Vegas still breathing and took him to University Medical Center, North Las Vegas Police spokesman Justin Roberts said.

Arredondo had been shot several times in the upper chest.

North Las Vegas Police responded to another homicide in the same area on May 29 when a man in his late 20s was shot and killed in the same block.

Police are asking anyone with information related to either shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or North Las Vegas Police at 633-9111.

Driver not charged in fatal collision

Metro Police have not charged a 79-year-old driver who they say pulled out of a Strip hotel parking lot into traffic and caused a four-vehicle accident that killed a 41-year-old Las Vegas woman on Saturday.

Officers said Abeba Blazek, 41, was driving her Honda west on Flamingo Road about 9:15 a.m. when Frank Mastroberti, 79, left the Barbary Coast in his 1985 Oldsmobile.

Blazek swerved to avoid a collision, and her car crossed the center median into eastbound traffic, police said. Two other eastbound vehicles collided with the Honda.

Blazek was taken to University Medical Center and later died. Two other drivers were treated and released on Saturday.

Mastroberti was not injured. The investigation is continuing.

Court workers checked for TB

Clark County Health District officials have tested more than 20 people who work at the County Courthouse for tuberculosis after a person tested positive for the bacterial disease.

No results have been released, but it takes at least three months before anyone develops signs of infection, Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

"It's a slow growing bacteria," Sizemore said on Sunday.

Those who test positive at the courthouse will be offered treatment, she said.

"It's voluntary; they don't have to accept treatment," Sizemore said. "But we do refer them for treatment."

Lightning sparks fires in Zion

Lightning sparked three small wildland fires in Zion National Park last week, a National Park Service spokesman said.

One of the fires was contained on Friday and the other two are being monitored for benefits to the natural resources at Zion, Park Service spokesman David Eaker said Sunday.

Between 20 and 25 acres were in flames Sunday, Eaker said.

Naturally ignited fires, such as those caused by lightning, are allowed to burn if all safety and fire management standards are met and the fires are in isolated areas, Eaker said.

For the safety of park visitors, LaVerkin Creek Trail was closed at the Lee Pass Trailhead and the Hop Valley Trail was closed five miles from the trailhead on the Kolob Terrace road. All Hop Valley backcountry campsites are open.