Thursday, July 31, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.
A man was killed by a Metro Police officer Wednesday several hours after allegedly shooting a 16-year-old boy in the hand at a south Las Vegas apartment complex.
Police said they initially were called about the wounding of the teen at Villanova Apartments, 2815 W. Ford Ave., shortly after midnight.
The teen had put his hand over his face to protect himself, and a bullet went through his hand, ripped through a finger and hit his mouth, knocking out a tooth, Officer Jose Montoya, police spokesman, said.
The teen lives at the complex but in a different apartment from the man. The teen "became the focus of his anger" after an argument between the man and the man's roommate, Sgt. Kevin Manning said.
The argument was believed to have been over money, police said.
When the suspect went after the teen, the boy "was just minding his own business and was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Anthony Beas, a friend of the teen, said.
Beas' cousin is the dead man's girlfriend and roommate, Beas said. And Beas said he was the one who called police.
But when police first arrived at the complex they couldn't find the the victim, the suspect or Beas. Beas said that's because the teen had gone to the hospital, the suspect had fled and Beas had run to another apartment to hide.
Beas said he called police back to the apartments a few hours later because the man who allegedly shot the teen had returned to the complex.
As the officers approached the suspect's apartment, which is on the first floor, they found the suspect "lying in wait" on the patio outside, Manning said. The man was on his back with the gun across his abdomen.
Montoya said that when one of the officers saw the gun, he told the man, "Get your hands away from the gun."
But the suspect, whose name has not been released by authorities, slowly moved the gun, pointing it at the officer, Montoya said.
The officer continued to say, "Drop the gun, drop the gun," then fired at the suspect, hitting him in the upper body, police said. The suspect was taken to University Medical Center, where he died about an hour later, at about 5 a.m.
The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending a routine internal investigation. The name of the officer will be withheld for 48 hours, per departmental policy. about
Beas said the dead man, whom he refused to identify, had been "a very gentle person. He wasn't violent at all"-- until late Tuesday and early Wednesday. The police shooting was the result of an "argument that escalated to something it shouldn't have."
But Beas commended the way police handled the case.
"He (the suspect) made the final choice," Beas said.
"I am sad that it went down the way it did, but he's the one who picked up the gun," Beas said. "He didn't have to do that. No one was hostile toward him."
Beas had lived with his cousin, Sylvia, and her boyfriend at the Villa Nova complex for about four months, Beas said. Beas said he and his cousin had initially moved into the apartment with Beas' aunt in January, but when the aunt moved out, Beas' cousin's boyfriend moved in.
"Living with people is hard," Beas said. "It all started to snowball."
Beas said he was moving out Wednesday night when his cousin's boyfriend became violent.
Another neighbor who wished to remain anonymous said she had experienced problems with Beas' roommate in the past, but never considered him to be dangerous.
She said she had confronted the man in the past over things such as excessive noise and setting off fireworks on the Fourth of July.
At about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, she and her 10-year-old grandson were awakened by loud voices, she said.
"I heard this yelling. Stuff like 'Put your gun down,' and 'Drop the gun or we'll shoot,' " she said. "And then I heard the shots."
She said the incident added to the fear she already had after her upstairs neighbor was robbed last month. She added that she was unsure whether or not she would consider moving.
Damon Rosa said he surprised and worried when he arrived home to his apartment at the Villanova complex at about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday and saw the police barricades around his building.
He said neighbors in the building always tried to get along with each other so problems wouldn't occur but now he is left feeling "not very safe."
"This place is supposed to be safe, a gated community," he said. "What the hell is going on here?"
Marilea Ellis, who lives on the other side of the complex, said she had no idea what happened and was surprised to hear about it on the news.
"I thought it would be a safe area since its tucked away," she said.
Ellis said she plans on staying at the Villanova apartments unless problems get worse.
A man who lived down the hall from the apartment where the shooting occurred said he used to get along well with the occupants of the apartment.
"Its life," he said. "Not everybody is as nice as you'd think."
Wednesday morning's shooting was the 11th involving Metro officers this year, and five of those shootings were fatal.
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