Boy inside home is victim of drive-by shooting

Heather Rawlyk

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 | 10:51 a.m.

A 2-year-old boy was shot in the stomach Tuesday night when a drive-by gunman fired several bullets into the North Las Vegas home where he was playing.

He was in critical condition this morning at University Medical Center, and police were still investigating, Officer Tim Bedwell, North Las Vegas Police spokesman, said. No arrests have been made.

Police received a phone call about 9:45 p.m. from the residents of the home saying that a white Chevrolet Caprice had driven by and a person shot at their house and drove off, Bedwell said.

The residents told police during the first phone call that no one had been hurt in the shooting and that the bullets had only hit the front of the house, in the 2300 block of Saber Drive near Martin Luther King Boulevard, police said.

Moments later police got a second call from a screaming woman saying that her 2-year-old son had been shot by a bullet that went through a front wall of the home.

Police told the woman they were sending an ambulance, but the parents of the child put him into their car and started driving to the hospital themselves, Bedwell said.

An officer noticed the car, with the parents and injured boy inside, drive past him and pulled them over to wait until the ambulance arrived.

The 2-year-old, who Bedwell said was in extremely critical condition, was taken to the hospital and rushed into emergency surgery.

Witnesses told police they saw a white Chevrolet Caprice pull in front of the house and shoot, but could not give a description of the people inside, Bedwell said.

Asked if the shooting could have been gang-related, Bedwell said, "It would only be speculation right now."