Police say homicide cases solved

Jen Lawson

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

Metro Police say they solved two homicide cases Wednesday with the arrests of a 15-year-old boy for a double killing last month and a 19-year-old man for a slaying Monday night.

The three homicides are believed to be related to gangs and drug trafficking, Lt. Tom Monahan said.

Gerardo Garcia, the youngest of the two teens arrested Wednesday, was charged with two counts of murder for the May 15 shootings of 14-year-old Juan Carlos Vasquez and 17-year-old Roberto Sanchez Jr. As per state law, Garcia was booked as an adult and is being held in the Clark County Detention Center because of the seriousness of the charges against him.

Detectives also arrested Randy Lopez on Wednesday. Lopez is charged with murder for allegedly shooting and killing 40-year-old Derek Wingard and is charged with attempted murder for allegedly wounding Wingard's 35-year-old fiancee Monday night during what police say was a botched drug deal at the City Place Apartments, 3150 S. Decatur Blvd., near Desert Inn Road.

Vasquez and Sanchez had apparently been trying to sell drugs in the territory of a rival gang when they were shot to death as they sat in a car parked in an alley near Eastern Avenue and Fremont Street, police said.

Detectives found Garcia in the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, where he had been held since a few days after the shootings in connection with an unrelated, undisclosed crime.

"Unfortunately it's far too common" to see young people arrested for murder, Monahan said, and the killings aren't always gang-related.

He pointed out that Mark Ford was 16 when he was arrested for stabbing a man to death during an attempted burglary last year. Ford is serving a prison sentence of more than 20 years.

In Monday's shooting, the couple had gone to the apartment complex seeking drugs, Monahan said.

Police said Wingard was confronted by gang members, but it's not yet clear what led up to the shooting.

A 19-year-old man also suffered a minor gunshot wound when the bullets started flying at the complex, and police on Wednesday were still trying to determine how he fits into the case, they said.

Lopez was identified as the gunman by witnesses, police said. On Wednesday, he was being treated at Sunrise Hospital for injuries unrelated to his arrest, and when he is released from the hospital, he will be transferred directly to the county jail, police said.