Court date set for man accused of murder in North Las Vegas double shooting

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 | 10:40 a.m.

It’s been more than a week since Mario Camacho called 9-1-1 and told police that two men had been shot in the garage of his North Las Vegas home.

Camacho, 33, is now being held in the Clark County Detention Center, waiting to be arraigned on murder and attempted murder counts in connection with the Feb. 15 double shooting.

Authorities said today that Camacho is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in North Las Vegas Justice Court. However, a court official said prosecutors have not yet filed formal charges against him.

Camacho is being held without bail in connection with the death of one of the men, Frank Wiest, 18, North Las Vegas. The Clark County Coroner’s office said the cause of Wiest’s death was the result of a close-range gunshot wound to the head.

The other man, identified in a police report as Cody Lucas, 20, was also shot in the head. He survived and is expected to recover from his injury, according to North Las Vegas Police Sgt. Tim Bedwell.

The shootings happened about 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15 in the garage at Camacho’s home, which is in the 1600 block of Splinter Rock Way, near Tropical Parkway and Camino Eldorado.

Camacho called 911 after the shooting. He told officers that someone came into his house and shot two people who were his guests, Bedwell said. Both of the injured men were in critical condition and taken to University Medical Center, where Wiest later died.

The next day, Feb. 16, officers served a search warrant on Camacho's home and arrested him on counts of murder with a deadly weapon, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, kidnapping first degree with a deadly weapon, coercion with force and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Bedwell said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and detectives are still looking for more witnesses.

“We haven’t talked to everyone we wanted to talk to,” he said.