Wednesday, March 31, 2004 | 11:37 a.m.
Fifteen-year-old Karina Cervantes is not sure how she will ever get over seeing her friend die.
Cervantes said she was in the room Monday afternoon when 14-year-old Erica Mendoza's brother shot and killed her with their brother-in-law's gun. Metro Police said the shooting was accidental.
"I'm still in shock," Cervantes said Tuesday while standing in the doorway of her apartment, which is directly below the Mendozas' at 1300 N. 22nd Street at Searles Avenue. "I'm having a hard time dealing with this."
The shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. in the apartment Erica Mendoza shared with about eight family members including her mother Sebastiana, her 15-year-old brother Rocky, a 21-year-old brother-in-law and two sisters, ages 8 and 9. Sgt. Rocky Alby of Metro's homicide section said the brother-in-law legally purchased the 9mm handgun earlier that day. Rocky Mendoza began playing with it while the gun owner was out of the room.
"He picked it up," Alby said. "The brother-in-law didn't have any knowledge that he had done that."
The boy apparently didn't realize the weapon was loaded, Alby said.
Cervantes said she was in the room with Erica and Rocky when the gun went off. Cervantes was a regular visitor at the Mendoza's apartment. Mendoza's older sister is married to Cervantes' brother, she said.
Erica enjoyed listening to Spanish music and wanted to join the Army when she got older, Cervantes said.
"She was always happy," Cervantes said. "She was a good person."
On the afternoon of the shooting, "we were all playing around, all three of us," Cervantes said. She declined to elaborate on what led up to the shooting. "It happened suddenly. He didn't know it was loaded."
When Erica was shot in the head, "I ran and screamed," Cervantes said.
Erica's mother, a housekeeper, was working Monday afternoon when the shooting occurred. She learned about what happened when she returned home and found police at her apartment. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Erica's father is deceased, police said.
The family's attorney, Richard Harris, said Sebastiana Mendoza is distraught but also concerned about the emotional heath of her son. Erica and Rocky were "extremely close," he said. "She wants to make sure he gets the love and support he needs now," Harris said.
Sebastiana Mendoza recently bought a mobile home but it wasn't ready yet, so the family was temporarily living with Sebastiana's older daughter in her 22nd Street apartment.
There had been some break-ins at apartments recently and the brother-in-law who owns the gun purchased it for protection, Harris said.
"It's just tragic that it turned out to be the opposite," he said.
The family's financial situation is grim and Harris is hoping the community will make donations to Erica Mendoza's funeral and burial fund, set up at Wells Fargo Bank under account number 58142200900.
A funeral has not yet been planned because the family can't afford it. The family also needs money to pay for counseling, he said.
"We're waiting for response from the community," Harris said. "Las Vegas people have big hearts and the response typically is overwhelming."
Yesterday a man donated a casket, Harris said. He had lost his own daughter and ended up with two caskets so he offered it to the Mendozas and they accepted.
No charges have been filed in connection with the incident. Police are expected to turn the case over to the district attorney's office for review within the next few weeks, Alby said.
Alby declined to say what charges, if any, detectives may seek nor would he speculate as to who might be at fault.
"We're going to submit the entire case to the DA's office," he said. District Attorney David Roger said it was too early to comment on the case. However, he said, Nevada does not have a specific law that would hold a gun owner responsible if a child accidentally shoots someone.
Gun safety locks are not required by law in Nevada. Local police and Project ChildSafe, a nationwide program promoting the safe handling and storage of firearms, gave away 20,000 gun locks in Clark County in December to try to protect from accidental shootings.
Nevada is scheduled to receive about 109,000 gun locks through Project ChildSafe by this summer.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Nevada a D grade for the seventh year in a row in 2003 in a report released in January. The state received failing grades in the safety lock requirement and because of the lack of secondary private sales background checks.
The Brady report grades the quality of seven state laws the organization believes are critical to preventing gun violence, particularly violence involving children. The national, nonpartisan organization responsible for the federal Brady Bill banning certain assault weapons gave 31 states failing grades of D or F for their gun control laws.
University Medical Center treated 33 patients younger than 18 for gunshot wounds in 2003, down from 38 in 2002, a hospital spokeswoman said.
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