Mojave High School student Daryle Williams played forward for the school's varsity basketball team. He is seen here during a Feb. 13 game. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky. Mojave High School seniors, from left, Legary Macklin, Dre Conway and Efreme Smith talk about classmate Daryle Williams, 18, who has been charged in Saturday morning's beatings of two MGM Grand landscapers. Photo by John Gurzinski.

The only person charged so far in Saturday's swarm attacks on two MGM Grand workers is a standout basketball player, a quiet but popular student and overall "good kid," according to his friends, family and school principal.

Several people close to Mojave High School senior Daryle Williams expressed surprise Wednesday that the 18-year-old is accused of being a member of the band of thugs that police say committed a string of attacks and robberies last weekend.

Those who know Williams said he must have been influenced by the dozen or so people captured on tape alongside him pummeling helpless victims.

"He's a very good kid. He just picked the wrong time and wrong place to be with the wrong people," said Williams' aunt Leslie Esquivel.

"I'm shocked. He's a normal, good kid," said Efreme Smith, Williams' teammate on Mojave's varsity basketball squad. "This has to be because of the people he was around, a bad crowd."

Williams was released from jail Wednesday afternoon after posting bail on felony charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit battery with substantial bodily harm. Bail had been set at $4,000.

Police on Wednesday were continuing to seek about a dozen other suspects captured on security video punching and kicking two MGM landscapers outside the Strip resort about 2:20 a.m. Saturday.

Las Vegas police had talked about only one victim at the MGM. The report about Williams' arrest, however, notes that there was a second MGM employee who was beaten at the same time.

Both men were recuperating Wednesday.

"I'm OK," 23-year-old landscaper Richard Markwell, who suffered a broken jaw and collarbone, said Wednesday. He added that he is tired of reliving his attack each time the video of it is replayed on newscasts. "I just want to get this over with and not talk about it any more."

Investigators also are reviewing security footage from some of the other crimes that they believe the group committed Saturday and Sunday, including the pillaging of a northwest valley convenience store, the assault of a man outside that store, a shooting in a nearby park and at least five beatings in which victims were robbed.

Authorities said additional arrests were coming in the high-profile string of attacks, but the probe is taking time because of its complicated nature, most notably because of the large number of suspects and witnesses.

"We're slowing down the investigation," said Lt. Ted Snodgrass, commander of the Las Vegas police robbery unit. "We have a bunch of names, and we are working with the DA's office to (develop) warrants for their arrests."

The difficulty in the case comes from determining how serious the charges will be against the different people identified in the videos, Snodgrass said. "This is a big case and we want to make sure this is done thoroughly."

Footage of the incident shows at least 10 young men punching and kicking Markwell until he drops into a fetal position. At that point, some of the attackers stomped on Markwell. Nearby, several people attacked another MGM landscaper, 45-year-old Enillo Rosales, when Rosales used a two-way radio to call for help for Markwell, according to the arrest report.

Detectives identified Williams through the license plate on his green Ford Thunderbird, which was seen leaving the scene, according to the police report.

Police also obtained Nevada license plate numbers on at least three other cars that sped away after the attacks.

During his interview with police, Williams told detectives he had been at a party late Friday and that after the party broke up, he and several people from the party had gone to the MGM Grand. He said he was with the group during the attack on Markwell but only had watched as the pack swarmed Markwell, according to an arrest report.

However, when Williams spotted Rosales "calling the cops," he walked over and punched and kicked him several times, the report says Williams told police.

About two hours before the MGM Grand attack, a similar mob had attacked a woman and a Wal-Mart employee in the store parking lot in North Las Vegas, police said. That incident unfolded about 12:55 a.m. Saturday at a Wal-Mart Super Center at 1807 West Craig Road, North Las Vegas police said. The store is about 2 1/2 miles from Williams' high school,

Fifteen to 20 youths assaulted a 23-year-old Wal-Mart employee after he confronted the group in the parking lot, North Las Vegas police spokesman Tim Bedwell said.

Two members of the group approached a 39-year-old Las Vegas woman who was nearby when the attack on the employee was under way. They stole her purse, and when she tried to use her cell phone to call 911, they knocked her down and kicked her, but her injuries were not serious, Bedwell said.

The Wal-Mart employee went to a local hospital for treatment, but he "wasn't seriously injured, at least nothing as serious as what happened to the man (Markwell) at the MGM," Bedwell said.

Bedwell added that North Las Vegas detectives are working with Las Vegas police on the case.

Police believe the same group was responsible for at least six assaults during the weekend, including one at a Green Valley Grocery convenience store in Williams' neighborhood off Vegas Drive near Rampart Boulevard.

About 10 youths ran through the store about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, stealing beer and food before running away, said the clerk who had been working there that night. He asked to remain anonymous because he fears for his safety. After the young men left the store, a man with a swollen jaw walked in and said he had just been assaulted by the group outside the store, the clerk said.

Mila Santos, the store's manager, said Williams was a frequent customer who usually stopped by two or three times a week to buy Gatorade, soft drinks and snacks. Williams lived with his uncle at a home in the 8200 block of Sickle Lane, less than half a mile from the convenience store, according to the police report.

Santos said Williams was the perfect customer, always polite, friendly and smiling, she said. "I cannot picture him doing this," she said, referring to the police charges. "He's a very nice kid. That's what I picture."

Others who knew Williams were just as surprised about his arrest.

Smith, a guard who played with Williams on the Mojave varsity squad, said his "homeboy" had the potential to win a college scholarship.

Williams was Mojave's top post player this season. The senior averaged 9 points and 11 rebounds per game, school statistics show.

His quest for a basketball scholarship led Williams, who is known to friends as "D.J.," to transfer to Mojave last year from Cimarron-Memorial High School, a friend said.

"He came here to play for a better team," said senior Dre Conway, 17, Williams' friend since the two were Brinley Middle School students.

Conway, like others, attributed Williams' arrest to the fact that he was hanging out with the people who threw the first blows at the MGM.

Mojave Principal Charity Varnado agreed. "He is a good boy," she said.

Students at Williams' former school echoed those opinions.

"He didn't hang around all the bad people at school," said Robert Watkins, a 15-year-old sophomore at Cimarron-Memorial. "I never thought he would ever get involved in anything like this."

Watkins, who said he has known Williams since middle school, described him as a quiet boy, popular among his classmates.

Review-Journal staff writers Brian Haynes, Francis McCabe, Antonio Planas and Damon Seiters contributed to this report.