Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Brothers say they were in wrong place at wrong time

Two brothers who have been identified by Metro Police as associates of the 311 Boyz say they are actually victims of overzealous cops and were in the wrong place at the wrong time in northwest Las Vegas early Sunday morning.

Kyle Davis, 21, and his brother Travis, 19, said they know who some of the 311 Boyz are, but they are not members of their group, which has gained national notoriety recently as a violent gang of upper middle-class white teens.

"The cops are going after any person on that side of town, even people who haven't done anything," Travis Davis said while sitting in his family's living room Thursday near Lake Mead and Decatur boulevards. "It feels like we're getting labeled as criminals and we're not criminals."

However, Robert L. Martinez, 18, says Kyle Davis and his friends targeted him and said they were going to "finish what Jayson Porter started," referring to an incident on March 21, 2002, in which Porter -- who police say is an admitted 311 Boyz member -- is accused of beating Martinez last year at Centennial High School, according to a police report.

Martinez said he's regularly harassed by alleged 311 Boyz when he's out in public places, calling it "an ongoing thing that's really getting old."

"No matter how you look at this, I'm the victim here," Martinez said. "I'm not a kid who goes around and looks for trouble."

Martinez said that about 1:30 a.m. Sunday he had just finished watching a movie with his parents and girlfriend when he went into the garage to smoke a cigarette with his father.

He said a red pickup truck drove by and he heard a voice on a loudspeaker calling out threats at him.

"My dad said, 'Is that them?' " Martinez said. "I looked out and saw the truck. They saw me and sped off down the street, then parked their car ... I got a bat."

Kyle Davis tells a different story. He said he had been racing BMX bicycles on a track on Nellis Boulevard and was driving down Guava Nectar because a friend lives nearby and he was dropping her off.

Davis has a P.A. system on his Ford F-250 pickup truck, and his friend switched it on and began singing and "just yakking on it."

Davis said he turned it off, and at the intersection with Dusty Lake Street, he said he saw a man standing on the sidewalk holding a bat at his side. The man came into the street and made a threatening gesture at his mirror, he said.

"It puzzled me why he would come at my truck," he said. "I said, 'Dude, I don't even know you' ... He acted like he knew all of us."

Diama Martinez, Roberto's mother, was watching the situation unfold from an upstairs window and called 911. Before officers arrived, several carloads of teenagers pulled up.

"It was like watching a horrifying movie," she said. "We could see these kids with knives out, screaming and yelling."

According to the police report, Davis had called the teenagers to assist them in a possible fight with Martinez and his father.

Davis denies that, saying he thinks the teenagers who showed up had been leaving a party in a nearby gated community, saw the confrontation between the Martinez men and Davis and decided to jump into the fray.

When Metro patrol officers arrived minutes later, there were about 20 people outside the Martinez house, but they fled when they saw police coming.

Davis remained at the scene and police immediately handcuffed him.

"I wanted to yell at them," he said. "They were quick to label me, but they didn't want to hear my side of the story."

Kyle Davis was arrested on a charge of possession of a dangerous weapon -- brass knuckles -- but he denies they were his.

Travis Davis heard about what was happening and went to the scene. He said he was handcuffed as well. When questioned by police, the brothers said they know who some of the 311 Boyz were, but aren't part of the group.

"Everyone gets together on that side of town," Travis Davis said. "Of course you're going to see Steve Gazlay around. But we're not participating in what they're doing."

Gazlay is one of the alleged 311 Boyz gang members facing multiple charges.

The brothers said they've been swept up in the 311 Boyz frenzy and were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Their mother, LuRenae Davis, said: "Not all young men and women on the street are 311 Boyz."

She said Roberto Martinez is pointing his finger at her sons because he wants revenge for the alleged beating of his son.

"He just wanted to target somebody," LuRenae Davis said. "He wants recognition. He wants in on the action."

But Roberto Martinez said he has no reason to retaliate against anyone.

"I get my revenge through the justice system," he said. "I'm the one who's innocent here. I stood on my property and defended my property and my family with a bat. That's when I said, 'This is enough.' "

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