Guard shooting might have been accident

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

An early Monday shooting reported to authorities as a drive-by in eastern Las Vegas turned out to be something much different, Metro Police said.

"It appears it did not happen that way," Metro Lt. John Alamshaw said late Monday.

"A small group of people -- about four -- were on Sunrise Mountain and an accidental shooting occurred. But a story was created to make it look like a drive-by shooting" at a different location, Alamshaw said.

Originally, the crime was reported to police as a 1:40 a.m. shooting at 4770 E. Owens Ave., near North Nellis Boulevard. A security guard at that apartment complex was shot in the neck and taken to the University Medical Center.

The man remained in critical condition at UMC late Monday. Police are waiting for him to come out of a coma to interview him about the incident as the investigation continues, Alamshaw said.

It turns out that the guard had been with the others on the mountain shooting at objects, Alamshaw said.

Target shooting is a longtime common practice on the mountain -- one that may be legal or illegal depending on the distance of populations from the point of discharging the weapon.

Alamshaw said that while the shooting scene was located by his detectives and several shell casings were found in the desert, it has not yet been determined if a crime was committed based on the proximity to houses or even if the shooting of the man was a criminal offense.

"They were unfamiliar with the weapon," Alamshaw said. "While trying to unload it, a round was accidentally fired" hitting the victim.

If the gun was a registered, legal weapon and the person was accidentally shot during a noncriminal act, it is possible that no crime was committed.

It is, however, a crime to provide false information to police during an investigation. Alamshaw said it has not yet been determined whether charges will be filed for that.

After the shooting, police say, the group opted to take the wounded man to the place where he lives and works and concoct the story of the drive-by incident rather than take him directly to a local hospital emergency room.

"They got scared," Alamshaw said, noting that it is not yet known whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the incident.

Police were withholding the identities of the victim and others involved in the incident because no charges had been filed as of Monday night.