Shooting in Meadows Village believed to be drug related

Heather Rawlyk

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 8:59 a.m.

A man was shot four times Tuesday night in the parking lot of a Meadows Village apartment complex, apparently over drugs, Metro Police said.

The man was outside Sumaylo's Apartments, in the 200 block of Cleveland Avenue, near Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South, about 6:40 p.m. when a small, black pickup truck pulled into the parking lot, according to Metro Lt. Les Lane.

Witnesses told police one of the men in the pickup truck got out of the vehicle and "exchanged words" with the other man before shooting him four times. The man was shot twice in the chest and once in the stomach, and another bullet grazed his head, Lane said.

The shooter ran back to the pickup truck, and the truck then "sped off down the street," Lane said.

Witnesses called police and the man was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center. The man was at one point listed in stable condition, but was later rushed into emergency surgery, Lane said.

A Metro helicopter located two pickup trucks in the area that matched the suspect vehicle's description, "but neither turned out to be the truck we were looking for," Lane said.

"The driver of the first truck was definitely not our suspect," he said. "The occupants in the second truck matched descriptions and were pulled, but were ruled out."

A man found in a nearby alley was also stopped and questioned, but was found not to be involved in the shooting, Lane said.

Police were still looking for two men Tuesday night, police said.

Lane said initial investigations show the shooting was not gang related, but was likely over drugs.

Miguel Santaella said he was pulling into his apartment complex across the street when he heard someone yell that a man had been shot.

"I was running to go get the phone, but my friend was already calling 911," Santella said. "Then there were a bunch of cops like two seconds later. I was asking around making sure it wasn't any of my friends, but I didn't know the guy."

Santaella said hearing gunshots is "nothing new" in his neighborhood.

"It's a bad block," he said. "Something bad's always going on here. I'm always worried someone I know will get in the way of it one time."