Three people wounded in two shootings

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

Two clerks in a 7-Eleven market at Sahara Avenue and Lamb Boulevard said they heard a single shot ring out shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and watched as a wounded teenager crumpled in the dirt west of the store.

Metro Police later took three other teenagers into custody for questioning at Sahara and Maryland Parkway.

As of late Tuesday, police had not established a motive for the shooting and did not yet know if the victim had known the suspects or was the victim of a road rage incident, Metro Police Lt. Les Lane said.

The victim, whose name was not released, was shot in the abdomen but was expected to survive, authorities said.

Just before the shooting, store clerk Pedro Ramos said he saw three teens had pulled up to the gasoline pumps in front of the store in a white Cadillac sedan.

One of the passengers from the Cadillac began walking west on Sahara as a Honda hatchback with a dark gray primer coat drove slowly alongside the man.

"The man on foot punched a passenger in the hatchback and he got shot," Ramos said of the pedestrian.

Ramos and another clerk, Manuel Degas, said friends of the victim ran into the store and asked them to call police.

There were three teens in the Honda, which sped westbound on Sahara Avenue, Lane said.

Officers responding to the shooting stopped a vehicle that matched the description of the Honda at Sahara and Maryland Parkway shortly after 4 p.m., Lane said.

Police, who didn't find a weapon, didn't release the names of the three suspects being questioned because they are juveniles.

Metro's gang crimes section was not called to the shooting scene.

Police were also searching for a gunman after two men were shot in a parking lot of a 7-Eleven at Pecos Road and Owens Avenue at 8 p.m., Lane said.

One man was shot in the knee and was walking around when officers arrived. The second victim was hit at least twice in the back, Lane said.

Both men were taken to a local hospital, but were expected to survive.