Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Teens caught in Strip gunfire

Cameron Scott came to Las Vegas to take part in a track competition at Palo Verde High School, but he left after dodging bullets on the Las Vegas Strip.

Scott, 18, was just one of eight North Tahoe High School students from Tahoe City, Calif., who were caught up in a shooting in front of the Walgreens drug store at 3765 Las Vegas Blvd. South, between Tropicana Avenue and Harmon Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

The shooting sent two people to the hospital -- one with a bullet wound to the head and one with a gunshot wound to the hand.

"We were caught in the middle of it," Scott, a high school senior, said, speaking by telephone from Tahoe City. He and his classmates returned to Tahoe City on Sunday.

The shooting in front of the Walgreens was the Strip's second of the night. Earlier, a little after midnight, an unidentified man was shot and wounded behind the Aladdin near Audrey Avenue. The shooting took place after a fight broke out in the Desert Passage mall after a Nelly concert at the Aladdin, police said.

The fight had spilled out into the back of the Aladdin, police said.

Police on Monday also reported that a fourth individual arrived at University Medical Center with a gunshot wound in the hand, and officers were investigating whether that person is connected to the earlier shootings.

Lt. Richard Collins of Metro Police's Gang Crimes Bureau, said there were at least four major fights Monday night on the Strip along the 3700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South between the Aladdin and the Monte Carlo.

Police, however, declined to make connections between the incidents.

"People interviewed on the street believed that the first and the second shootings could be related, but we can't confirm that," Collins said.

Scott and his classmates were walking on Las Vegas Boulevard South after attending a late showing of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" at the Central United Artist Showcase 8 theater on Las Vegas Boulevard near the MGM Grand. They were in front of the Walgreens when they heard between 10 and 15 gunshots, he said.

The students immediately sought cover.

Scott said he was pinned against the wall and watched as one individual was shot in the hand and a security guard was shot in the head.

"All the girls were crying, but everyone else around us seemed like it was no big deal," he said. "A few people picked up their drinks and started walking again."

A classmate, Wyatt Honse, 17, fell to the ground when he heard the shots, falling near the man who had been shot in the hand. Honse said one of the victims was so close that he had bled on him.

"There was blood all over, and I thought I had been shot," he said.

Chris Meyer, the Walgreens store manager, declined to comment on the shooting.

The first shooting took place after a fight spilled out into the back of the Aladdin, and the 25-year-old victim was shot in the buttocks by an unidentified assailant, Collins said. The victim then ran onto Audrey Avenue, and was later taken to UMC, Collins said.

Officer Bill Cassell, a Metro spokesman, said the victim sustained non-life threatening wounds. He said the victim claimed gang membership.

Police later found a handgun on the third floor of the Aladdin parking garage, Collins said.

He said two people were arrested on weapons charges, but witnesses interviewed could not positively identify the suspects as the shooters.

Russell Joyner, vice president and general manager for Desert Passage mall, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

The second shooting took place 2 1/2 hours later in the front of the Walgreens, said Sgt. Steve Summers of Metro's Gang Crimes Bureau. Someone fired from an area near the CVS pharmacy at 3758 Las Vegas Blvd. South, hitting two people in a crowd of about 12 people, witnesses said.

The shots hit a security guard in the head and another man in the hand, but police could not establish if they were the targets or individuals at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"There were so many people out that we are in the preliminary stages of the investigation," Summers said. "Apparently it may be gang-related."

Police arrested "several" people on weapons charges and recovered an unidentified number of firearms at the scene, according to a police statement.

Metro spokesman Sgt. Chris Jones said police will review "incident action plans" to check whether Metro was well-prepared for the incident and will work with property owners to check if weapons security was adequate.

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