Flying bullets leave 13-year-old girl dead

Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

By the time North Las Vegas Police officers responded to the sound of gunfire, 13-year-old Tanisha Turner lay dead in a Hassell Avenue driveway Thursday night.

Turner was walking home in an older neighborhood bounded by Comstock Avenue and Lake Mead Drive when she was caught in a hail of bullets fired between people in a car and a group standing on the sidewalk, Officer Justin Roberts, North Las Vegas Police spokesman, said.

"We believe she is an innocent victim and was not the target," Roberts said after the 5:35 p.m. shooting.

Patrol officers heard the gunfire and arrived within a minute.

"They tried to assist her, but could find no signs of life," Roberts said.

Paramedics arrived and Turner was pronounced dead moments later.

There are no suspects or known witnesses, police said.

Tanisha's mother, Trinia Turner, stood in her front yard Thursday night, tears streaming down her face.

"We heard gunfire," the mother said. "I told my sons to come inside. Ten minutes later neighbors came and told me my daughter had been shot."

Tanisha was the eldest of Turner's four children, two boys and two girls.

The family has lived on Hassell for two years.

"Every time you turn around there is a shooting around here," Trinia Turner said.

Roberts said detectives are investigating gang-related issues, drugs or domestic violence as possible motives for the killing.

Police investigators were gathering shells that had struck four other houses on the south side of Hassell, but none of the shots injured anyone else, Roberts said.

"A lot of good people live in this neighborhood," Roberts said.

Neighbors watched in stunned silence as police put yellow tape around four homes on Hassell.

"I feel sad about this," Theresa Smith said. Smith grew up in the neighborhood, but moved out with her two children. She had returned Thursday night to visit her mother and father.

Smith said she worries about her 15-year-old sister, who is living with the parents.

The shooting took place in front of a home where Katrina Brass, 20, has lived for eight years.

When she came home and found police had blocked the street, Brass said she fainted.

"There's always something happening, gunshots, fighting, every day," Brass said, huddled under a blanket against the night's chill.

"I'm ashamed to live over here," Brass said. "You can get shot."

Neighbors said that a slight decrease in criminal activity had occurred in the neighborhood, but drug deals and gang activity were still evident.

Roberts said that two recent FBI sweeps in the area had removed some of the criminals from the streets.

Roberts compared Turner's death to the senseless shooting of 9-year-old Genesis Gonzales who was killed in the courtyard of her apartment complex near Civic Center Drive and Cheyenne Avenue, protecting a 10-month-old baby, Heidi Gonzales, who survived.

Jurors last month found Pascual Lozano, 24, guilty of capital murder in Genesis' killing, but Lozano's attorneys have asked for a new trial. Jurors determined that Lozano should be executed for firing the shots that killed Gonzales during a gang shootout in September 2002.

Turner's death was the 19th homicide in North Las Vegas this year, Roberts said. In 2002 there were 22 murders and there were 21 in 2001.

The North Las Vegas Police Department is asking anyone with any information related to the crime to call 633-9111 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.