Tourist killed trying to stop robbers

Stephen Curran

Monday, Jan. 24, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

A 49-year-old man visiting Las Vegas for a convention died Saturday from gunshot wounds he suffered when he tried to stop two men who were fleeing a McDonald's they had just robbed, police said.

According to Metro Police, two men robbed the McDonald's restaurant on Paradise Road near Twain Avenue about 3 p.m. Friday. As they were leaving, the conventioneer, Thomas Latimer of Maitland, Fla., tried to apprehend one of the suspects and was shot.

Latimer was taken to University Medical Center, where he died of his wounds early Saturday morning.

Soon after the robbery, police arrested ex-felon Charles Anthony Walker, 26, and another unidentified man near Sierra Vista Drive and Swenson Street in a car matching the one witnessed at the McDonald's. Walker and the other man, booked as John Doe and also in his early 20s, face murder, robbery, and other charges.

Police said that both men are believed to have been involved at another McDonald's robbery, this one in the 3800 block of Maryland Parkway, earlier Friday afternoon. Police are investigating additional robberies that occurred earlier in the week.

Jose Sanchez, the manager of the McDonald's on Paradise Road, said he was on his lunch break when two front-counter cashiers ran back to tell him the store was being robbed.

When Sanchez entered the front of the restaurant, he saw a customer follow them from the lobby and attempt to stop them. The man was then shot. No other customers or employees were injured, he said.

The restaurant remained closed Friday afternoon as Metro detectives surveyed the premises and questioned the scores of witnesses believed to have seen the shooting, Metro Lt. Ron Williams said.

Anyone with further information about the robberies may call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 385-5555.