Police say bad drug deal may have led to Vegas apartment slayings

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

The youngest of the three young men who were shot to death early Tuesday at a downtown apartment was just a fun-loving and sociable 13-year-old, his grandmother said.

But Metro Police Lt. Tom Monahan said the shooting at the Saratoga Palms II East complex at 2895 E. Charleston Blvd. near Fremont Street may have been a marijuana deal gone bad.

The victims were identified as Da'jon Jones, 13; Jason Moore, 17 and Derrick Jones, 23. Police said none of the victims are related.

A 16-year-old boy who is a brother of one of the victims was in the apartment during the shooting, but escaped unharmed, police said.

Police were searching for 20-year-old Glenford Anthony Budd in connection with the shooting. Budd goes by the nickname "A.I.," the initials of basketball player, Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers. Officer Jose Montoya said Budd doesn't have a criminal record in Las Vegas.

It appears Budd knew the victims, Metro Sgt. Kevin Manning said. Some residents of the complex said the group had been playing basketball together prior to the shooting, which occurred just after midnight. There was no sign of forced entry at the apartment where the bodies were found, Manning said.

Joyce Jones, the grandmother of one of the victims, said she was shocked when she learned that her grandson, Da'jon, had been killed.

"He was the lovable one of the family," Jones said during a telephone conversation from her home in Hesperia, Calif. "He loved animals and he loved people. He was just an outgoing, social person."

Gang officers who were patrolling the area heard gunfire just after midnight. They found one victim dead on a second-floor landing. Two others were inside the apartment, one in a hallway and one in a bedroom, Manning said.

One of those found in the apartment, Moore, was taken to University Medical Center, where he died about 5 a.m., Monahan said.

Manning said the three victims were ducking when they were shot. Up to 12 shots were fired, and it appears that one gunman was responsible. Police believe the shooting is not gang-related.

Da'jon Jones' father, Lazon Jones, told a television reporter that the boy's 16-year-old brother called police immediately after the shooting.

Lazon Jones was at a family reunion in Los Angeles when he found out that his son was dead, Joyce Jones said. He came to Las Vegas right away, she said.

"It's very shocking -- just a horror story," she said. "It's just a horrible, horrible thing."

When asked who lived in the apartment, Manning said Tuesday that "living is a day-to-day situation with some people, so it's hard to put a handle on it. They were there for the night, and we're still trying to figure out who belonged there and for how long."

Jones said Da'jon had moved from the San Bernardino County town of Hesperia to Las Vegas to be with his mother earlier this year. He had enrolled as an eighth grader at Knudson Middle School in late April, but withdrew in early May, Clark County School District spokesperson Pat Nelson said.

"There was no reason given as to why he withdrew," Nelson said. "Sometimes we just don't know."

Arlene Gluck, principal of Mojave High School in Hesperia, said two of the victims had attended that school, but declined to release any information on them.

Budd is described as a light-skinned black man, 5 feet, 3 inches tall with an average build. He has shoulder-length braided hair and a thin mustache, and was last seen wearing a red jersey, jeans, blue jeans and a "do-rag" on his head.

Monahan said it's not clear if Budd left the apartment on foot or in a vehicle. He is considered armed and dangerous, police said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or the homicide unit at 229-3521.