Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Resident ‘still scared to live’ at apartments where boy, 14, was shot to death

Sage Point

Brian Nordli

The first-floor apartment at the Sage Point complex is shown Jan. 14, 2013. Haji Mohamud, 14, was shot and killed at a party outside unit No. 21 over the weekend.

Sage Point apartments

When Nadine Logan heard the gunshots, she took cover.

It was around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. She was sitting inside her second-floor apartment at Sage Point complex near Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway as another party raged below. There were always parties and drunken fights going on inside unit 21, she said, but this time was different.

She heard 10 shots fired, as people began shouting in the chaos. Bullets lodged into the outer walls of nearby apartments. She ducked, and pulled her confused husband to the floor with her. One man yelled, “They shot my brother, they shot my brother.” Then Metro Police arrived.

When she peeked below, she saw a 14-year-old boy sprawled on the unit’s dirt landscaping with a jacket covering his head. His name was Haji Mohamud.

Police said the shooting occurred after an altercation at the party, but did not know what the fight was about.

Two days after the party, Mohamud’s dried blood still stained the dirt like spilled red paint outside the boarded-up apartment. There are bits of glass on the ground and bullet holes in nearby stucco walls. Orange police tape and plywood cover the windows.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office said Mohamud died from a gunshot to the head.

Mohamud had attended Del Sol High School until October, when he was disenrolled for unknown reasons, Clark County School District officials said. The funeral arrangements for Mohamud’s family said the family declined to speak with media.

Sage Point manager Narty Ceballos said Mohamud did not live in the apartment complex, 1400 E. Reno Ave.

She said a single mother with two kids lived in the apartment. She recalled the woman mentioning that she planned to have a family party that weekend.

Logan, however, paints a different picture. She said the woman lived there with a group of other young women and men. There were always dozens of people drinking and smoking at the apartment, and young women in their 20s often ran outside half-dressed, she said. They also fought and argued a lot.

Because of the residents “I’m still scared to live here,” Logan said.

Metro Police have also frequented the apartment complex. Metro crime-mapping data show the complex has been the site of 10 crimes in the last 30 days. Those cases include burglaries, stolen vehicles and assaults.

Police said a second man was also shot at the party. He was treated for a nonlife-threatening gunshot wound at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

Police said they are still searching for the suspected shooter in the party that went awry.

Police urge anyone with information regarding the incident to contact Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or online at crimestoppersofnv.com.

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