Tuesday, June 14, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.
Metro Police are trying to determine whether some kind of gang warfare is ongoing in a neighborhood between the UNLV campus and Sunrise Hospital.
One man was killed and three others wounded in three shootings on Sunday and Monday near the Sierra Vista Drive and Cambridge Street area, Metro Police said.
Police had not reported any arrests in connection with the shootings as of this morning.
The first shooting took place on Friday around 11:30 p.m. in front of the Enjoy Mini Mart at 3507 Maryland Parkway near Sierra Vista Road. One man was shot to death and another bystander was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant at that incident.
About an hour later in the parking lot of a business complex at 3600 Cambridge, near Cambridge and Twain Avenue, an unidentified person shot a woman in the foot in the parking lot of an apparently closed recording studio during an party in the parking lot, police said. The woman was taken to UMC, police said.
That shooting took place next door to an elementary school and police believe shell casings recovered from the school's parking lot were related to the shooting outside the studio.
At 10:15 a.m. Monday, about a block from the shooting at the studio, an unidentified man was shot in the back across the street from the Al Snyder Boys & Girls Club at the corner of Dumont Boulevard and Cambridge. The victim was taken to Sunrise Hospital and was in critical condition, police said.
Police said the three shootings, likely are gang-related and are probably linked.
"We don't know (for certain) if they are connected yet, but common sense says they are," Metro Sgt. Jon Scott said Monday.
Scott responded to the scene of the latest shooting, when a man in his 20s was shot in the chest at the Rainwalk Apartments, formerly Courtyard Village, 1001 Dumont Blvd.
The victim then ran across the street to the youth club seeking assistance, but the staff at the club closed the doors, fearing that the man would endanger the youth at the club, Scott said.
Angela Quinn, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas, said that about 25 kids were at the club at the time of the incident.
Staff ushered youths playing on the club's playground quickly into the club and locked down the club for at least an hour, she said. The victim was allegedly pounding on the door of the club to gain entry, she said.
No one at the club was harmed in the incident, she said.
"Gunshots aren't a novelty for a lot of them," Quinn said.
Police found the man on the sidewalk across the street from the club shortly afterward, he said. The victim, whose identity was not released, was taken to Sunrise Hospital, Scott said.
Lt. Lew Roberts of Metro's gang unit said the victim was not shot in the chest but in the back.
Also, on Monday, a large group of people were reportedly holding a party in a parking lot at 3600 Cambridge Street when an individual fired shots at 12:45 a.m., Roberts said.
Police responded to the call and found one woman with a gunshot wound to the foot, he said.
He said there may have been a dispute at the gathering, but the police were still investigating the incident.
On Monday morning, a school janitor found spent shell casings in the parking lot of Dean Petersen Elementary School, located next door to the recording studio, said Mary Ann Ward, principal of the school.
Police suspected that the shell casings recovered at the school were related to the studio shooting, Roberts said.
The school -- which is located about a block from the Al Snyder Boy's & Girls Club -- was also placed in lock-down by school officials Monday morning after officials received reports of the shooting near the club, Ward said.
She said the administration placed the school into lockdown at 10:30 a.m. for an hour and 45 minutes. About 800 students are currently attending the school, which is a year-round school, she said. She reported the incident to the Clark County School District Police.
"We did what we needed to do to get the kids inside," she said.
Brooke Duell said she rented out space at the recording studio where the woman was shot in the foot. But she had closed the studio's doors for good and cleared out the equipment inside on Sunday morning because she had a number of problems there. She would not elaborate on the problems she faced at the studio.
According to the county's records, 3600 Cambridge is owned by Virginia Starling of St. George, Utah.
Starling said by phone Monday that she was in the process of evicting Duell from the property because of complaints from police and neighbors.
The property owner, who refused to be identified, said Metro had responded to 36 complaints at the studio since she began renting it to Duell in the beginning of April.
Roberts could not confirm that the police had responded to numerous complaints at the address.
The first shooting that may have a connection to the other shootings took place in front of the Enjoy Mini Mart on Sunday night.
Police said that an unidentified assailant shot and killed Gary Lee Lavoll, 28, and another unidentified man was shot and wounded.
Darlene Stone, 19, an employee at the Fresh 2 Def clothing store next door to the mini mart, said she had viewed a security tape of the shooting that was taken by the mini mart's security cameras on Monday morning.
"Whoever was shooting wanted to make sure he (the victim) was dead," she said, describing the contents of the security tape. She said the tape showed one man firing about seven shots into the victim.
She said the security camera at Fresh 2 Def could not capture any clear images from the incident because of a security gate placed on the front of the store at night. The clothing store was closed at the time of the shootings, she said.
A clerk at the Enjoy Mini Mart declined to comment on the shooting and refused a request to view the security tape.
One resident in the area, Gladys Blunt, 24, was at the Fresh 2 Def clothing store when she heard about the shooting near the Boys & Girls Club. She said her 7-year-old son often goes to the club and worried that he could be in danger if he continues activities in the neighborhood.
"It's getting ridiculous," she said. "If this keeps up, I am definitely going to keep him from going (to the club)."
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