Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005 | 9:57 a.m.
Metro Police were searching this morning for a man who shot and killed a 68-year-old Henderson woman outside the Suncoast hotel Tuesday morning.
Officers said the man brandished a gun and demanded money from Julie Miller and her husband as they were parking their late model Mitsubishi Outlander station wagon in the hotel's parking lot at Alta Drive and Rampart Boulevard, Lt. Tom Monahan of Metro's homicide section said.
The couple was in the process of complying with the robber's demand but before the couple could give him any money, the man shot into the passenger side of the car, striking Miller in the torso, Monahan said. Her husband, who suffered minor injuries from a gunshot wound to his arm, then drove the car to a drop-off area near an entrance and asked for help, Monahan said.
Miller was taken to University Medical Center's trauma unit but later died. Her husband's name had not been released by police this morning.
Detectives on the scene reviewed surveillance footage provided by hotel personnel for information about the killer, described by Monahan as a black man in his late 30s with a medium build, wearing a khaki sleeveless shirt with a logo on the chest and a light-colored baseball cap.
Officers spent Tuesday afternoon searching the area around the hotel and interviewing customers parked near where the shooting occurred. The suspect may have fled in a silver Dodge Magnum station wagon, they said this morning.
The hotel, which is popular with locals and retirees, stayed open while detectives canvassed the parking lot and interviewed patrons approaching cars parked near where the shooting occurred. Hotel security personnel were seen telling passers-by who asked that they were "not at liberty to say" what happened, leaving several to approach members of the media for information.
When told of the shooting, several regular players said they were shocked that a seemingly random act of violence could occur in broad daylight in the upscale neighborhood.
"This is my favorite place," said 62-year-old Marianne Schroeder, a frequent Suncoast customer, before security personnel asked media not to speak to patrons. "You know, this place is so nice. I don't even use the valet."
Two women who approached reporters outside the hotel but asked not to be named said they visit every day because it is normally a "very safe" place. The friends arrived about noon, later than usual because of a delayed appointment with a pool maintenance technician at one woman's home.
"We would have been here when it happened," one of the friends said to the other. "It's a good thing you had to wait for the pool man."
Rob Stillwell, a spokesman for Suncoast corporate parent Boyd Gaming, said hotel officials did not announce the shooting to patrons inside the hotel.
It was the first armed robbery in the resort's five-year history, he said.
"In those types of situations you have to be careful about (not) creating a panic," Stillwell said.
The shooting at about 10:45 a.m. came a little more than eight hours after an armed robbery at a change booth within the Gold Coast, another Boyd property, at 4000 W. Flamingo Road that morning, police said.
Police Tuesday afternoon were looking for the man who had a similarly vague description as that of the man who shot the woman outside the Suncoast, Officer Bill Cassell, a Metro spokesman, said. It was unclear if the two incidents were related, he said.
"At this point in time they're two separate incidents," Cassell said. "The only factors that are similar is that they're two places with the name 'Coast' and they were both black guys."
Patrick Fitzgerald, a marketing manager for the Suncoast, would not comment on whether the shooting was captured on videotape. An officer at the scene, however, said a camera positioned nearby was facing away from the couple and that another camera located in an eave might have been too far away to provide useful footage.
Stillwell said all surveillance tapes of the open-air parking lot were turned over to Metro.
By Tuesday afternoon, no significant changes were anticipated for the Suncoast's security, which includes more than 100 personnel patrolling the hotel and parking lots 24 hours a day, he said.
"Our parking lots are very secure," Stillwell said. "It just speaks to the randomness of this situation. I can't begin to understand it enough to explain. It appears it was some kind of act of desperation."
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