Police say Caesars slaying suspect beat man with rock

By Mary Manning

Published Thursday, May 14, 2009 | 10:02 a.m.

Updated Thursday, May 14, 2009 | 6:06 p.m.

Metro Police say they have no motive as to why 28-year-old Bryan Hall, who is the suspect in a violent homicide outside the Caesars Palace Forum Shops on Monday, allegedly beat the victim with a rock the size of a grapefruit.

Metro Police homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said Hall was arrested about 2:30 a.m. Thursday at his southwest valley residence in the death of 27-year-old Brad Flamm of Las Vegas. Police had a warrant in hand and Hall was taken into custody peacefully, police said.

Hall is charged with one count of homicide with a deadly weapon and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon, Roberts said. Police are investigating the case and homicide detectives did not recover money from the suspect Tuesday morning, Roberts said.

Hall has been booked into the Clark County Detention Center without bail, according to detention center records.

Hall is suspected of bashing Flamm's head in with a rock the size of a grapefruit, Roberts said. The Clark County Coroner's Office has not officially released Flamm's identity or the cause of death.

"It was rather a violent homicide," Roberts said at a media conference this morning.

Hall was captured on tape from a video surveillance camera on the Caesars Palace property, Roberts said. He would not give further details.

Roberts said Flamm left his job at the Trevi Italian Restaurant in the Forum Shops on the Las Vegas Strip about midnight.

He walked out a doorway leading to a landing near the Forum Shops where some employees go to smoke and encountered his attacker there, shortly after midnight on Monday, Roberts said.

"It happened on that landing," Roberts said of the slaying.

The attacker then dragged Flamm's body down to an area thick with bushes and trees, Roberts said, where the body was discovered at 7:28 a.m. Monday.

Roberts said Hall has a history of involvement with law enforcement, although it is unclear where the events took place. Incidents include an arrested for domestic violence, resisting a public officer and battery with substantial bodily harm, which is a gross misdemeanor, in July 2003. He was convicted of a felony for domestic violence with battery in February 2006 and charged as an ex-felon failing to report a change of address later that month. On April 29, 2008, Hall was charged with trespassing and domestic violence, and the next month was charged with a second domestic violence charge and one count of burglary.

In addition to Hall being seen on the videotape, Roberts said police homicide investigators developed further evidence about the attack and slaying.

"At this time I do not have a lot of answers to your questions," Roberts said, noting that the investigation is ongoing.

A memorial service for Flamm is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Palm Mortuary Northwest, located at 6701 N. Jones Blvd. Burial is still being planned, a spokeswoman for the mortuary said.

Brad Flamm's father, Fred, learned that something had happened to his son while he was on his way to work at the Palms Monday morning. Flamm said it was unusual for his son not to come home after work.

Flamm had worked as a waiter at the Trevi Italian Restaurant in the Forum Shops for years. After work, his family said he went straight home to feed his pets, two dogs, mini Doberman pinschers named Moo Shu and Luna, and two python snakes.

Brad Flamm "would light up a room," said a first cousin, Amanda Wheeler.

Flamm had hoped to become a mentor for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, which pairs adults with disadvantaged youth, Wheeler said. On Valentine's Day Flamm had started a romance with a woman from Michigan, Wheeler said.

Flamm and his family came to Las Vegas from Albuquerque, N.M., in August 1996 and he had attended Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas.

A tearful Wheeler said Flamm loved his job as a waiter.

"He was a very social person," Wheeler said. "He loved people, that's why he stayed in the job."

Brad has two younger brothers, Gavin, 21, and Derek, 19. He is survived by his mother, Jennifer Flamm, and his father, Fred Flamm.

He was also close to his grandmothers and stayed close to his mother, Wheeler said.