News briefs for October 15, 2004

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 9:49 a.m.

Officer involved in NLV shooting ID'd

North Las Vegas Police have released the name of the officer who shot and killed a man Tuesday after the man allegedly fired his gun.

Officer Mike Carmody responded to an evening call by a relative of the man who said the man would not stop shooting inside a home on the 1800 block of Harvard Street, police said.

Carmody and other officers arrived to find the man firing into the neighborhood, police said. Several shots traveled near the officers and Carmody returned fire, police said.

The man, Antonio Corona-Mendoza, 28, of North Las Vegas, died of multiple shotgun wounds.

Carmody is a 12-year veteran of the police department and has been placed on routine administrative leave pending a coroner's inquest.

Carmody has been involved in prior shooting incidents, all of which were determined justified.

On July 14, 1998, Carmody shot and killed a man who pointed a semi-automatic handgun at him, police said.

Carmody was also involved with other officers in the shooting of armed suspects in 1995 and 1997 in which the suspects survived their injuries, police said.

Third victim in drive-by named

The Clark County coroner's office has released the name of the third man killed in a shooting Sunday night.

Michael Ferguson, 26, was among those killed when gunfire erupted at a gathering along Rancho Drive after the Lowrider Magazine Super Show car show.

Police said at least 85 shots were fired in a hail of bullets that also killed Glen Taylor of North Las Vegas and Jorge Rojas of Las Vegas. Both men were also 26.

Police are investigating if the shooting was gang-related and have yet to make any arrests.

Bone marrow donors sought

The National Marrow Donor Program will be looking for potential bone marrow donors during a registry drive Saturday.

Volunteers are asked to give a blood sample, which is used to determine tissue type. They are then entered into an international registry to match patients in need of marrow with potential donors.

The donor program will charge $25 to process and test each volunteer. Testing may be free for minority groups under-represented in the registry.

Two Las Vegas families organized the drive to try to find matches for family members in need of a transplant, said Victoria Otter, whose 15-year-old nephew has leukemia.

Otter encouraged people to volunteer despite the cost.

"You could have the chance to save someone's life," she said. "And you don't know if it might be you and your family needing that."

The drive starts at 10 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m. at the law offices of David Straus, 900 Rancho Lane. The offices are located at the intersection of Rancho Lane and Charleston Boulevard behind the Omelet House restaurant.

For more information on marrow donations, visit marrow.org.