Five youths arrested in ‘wave of violence’

By Timothy Pratt

Wednesday, June 25, 2003 | 11:27 a.m.

Five youths who are suspected of unleashing what a Metro Police lieutenant called a "wave of violence" linked to gangs in the West Las Vegas area have been arrested and charged with two homicides, a carjacking and other crimes.

Police allege the youths -- 16-year-old Tyrone Williams, 17-year-old Steven Perry, 18-year-old Julius Bradford, 19-year-old Natasha Barker and 20-year-old Aaron Daniels -- were involved in "a couple of crimes that caused a lot of commotion in the (Las Vegas) Valley" in recent months, Lt. Tom Monahan of the Metro homicide unit said.

One of the killings was a Sunday morning shooting of 48-year-old man who was walking home with groceries.

Four of the five suspects are linked to two gangs that have roots in California, said Capt. Jim Owens of the Bolden Area Command near Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards, where the arrests were made.

The substation, only six months old, has been key to making a dent in the gang violence in what Sheriff Bill Young called "the highest crime area in Southern Nevada."

Young said collaboration between the substation, Metro homicide and gang units, and neighborhood people was key in the arrests announced Tuesday.

Williams, Perry and Bradford were charged with the June 8 murder of Benito Zambrano-Lopez, an immigrant laborer. Zambrano-Lopez was returning from a supermarket to a nearby apartment he shared with a friend when he was attacked on the sidewalk.

Paulo Zambrano Lopez, Benito's nephew, received his uncle's belongings from Metro late last week -- a $20 watch, $125 in cash, a wallet and an address book -- along with the news that investigators were close to collaring suspects in the killing.

"I hope there's justice, and that they don't let them out to commit more crimes against innocent people," he said in Spanish.

Nevada law requires children 8 and older who are charged with murder to be charged as adults.

Monahan said the crime against Zambrano Lopez "outraged the community and the city."

"The man was simply walking down the street with his groceries," he said.

Even more outrageous was the alleged reason for the killing. Monahan said the teens did it to impress other gang members -- making it "one of the few homicides to be strictly gang-motivated."

"What I find disturbing," Monahan said, "is their ages. ... We're seeing 16-year-olds committing murder."

Monahan said the alleged motive is not a common one. Most violence by gang members in recent months has been linked to conflicts over drug trafficking, he said.

Investigators suspect drugs may have been involved in a second homicide, and Barker and Daniels are charged in that case -- the slaying of Anthony Limongello, 40, an importer of Italian charm bracelets who was found dead May 5 near some trash bins in the 1000 block of North Rancho Drive.

Though the crime was "for sure a robbery," Monahan said, "there was possibly a drug element involved."

Williams and Perry were also charged with robbery in connection with two June carjackings. All five have "a laundry list" of charges against them, Monahan said.

"Based on what we've heard, it's fair to say our community will rest safer," Monahan said.

At the same time, the gangs in the area "were not shut down by any means," he said.

Young said, "the gang lifestyle is so rooted in the neighborhood ... that any solution will be long-term."

The sheriff said the substation's opening in November 2002 has allowed Metro to build "a much better relation to the community -- and the only way to solve it is by getting people involved.

Until people say they "have had enough, then it's hard to do anything about this," Young said. "Kids should be able to go out and play without hearing gunfire."

Owens, the Bolden Area Command captain, said he doesn't know how many of the estimated 10,000 gang members Metro has in its database live in neighborhoods around his police station. "But we deal with 10 to 12 hard-core gangs on a daily basis here," he said.

Some of the younger gang members in the area probably still have a chance at turning their lives around, he said. But, he added, as he motioned to the mug shots of the teens charged with killing Zambrano Lopez: "These guys -- they're a bunch of freaking cowards."