Man charged with murder, attempted murder ducks to avoid camera

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, March 1, 2012 | 9:57 a.m.

A man who has been arrested on a murder charge for a double shooting two weeks ago in the garage of his North Las Vegas home is apparently camera shy.

Mario Camacho, 33, ducked down behind a courtroom railing as soon as he saw a Sun news photographer’s camera pointed in his direction today following his first appearance in North Las Vegas Justice Court.

A court marshal then went over to Camacho, who had been sitting with others in custody at the back of the jury box. The court marshal opened a door to a holding area and Camacho crawled out of the courtroom, staying low and out of sight.

However, police had already released a booking photo of Camacho, who is due to make another court appearance at 8 a.m. Monday. Special Public Defender David Schieck told Justice of the Peace Tera K. Ames that he wasn’t ready for the judge to set the date for Camacho’s preliminary hearing, so asked for the additional court date.

Outside the courtroom, Schieck explained that the Public Defender’s office had passed the case over to his office, because they had a conflict of interest in already representing someone from Camacho’s case. Schieck said he had not had time yet to review Camacho's case and also needed time to make sure there is no conflict of interest with his office. If there is, the court would appoint an atttorney for Camacho.

Camacho is being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail in connection with the death of one of the two men shot in his home, Frank Wiest, an 18-year-old from 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.