These still photographs (above and below) from convenience store security camera footage released by Las Vegas police show one of several robberies authorities say a group involved in the beating of two MGM Grand landscapers also carried out last weekend.
These still photographs (above and below) from convenience store security camera footage released by Las Vegas police show one of several robberies authorities say a group involved in the beating of two MGM Grand landscapers also carried out last weekend.
This still photograph from convenience store security camera footage shows one of several robberies police say a group involved in a beating at the MGM Grand also carried out last weekend.
Demarcus Smith Charges against 18-year-old include four counts of robbery
Police made two more arrests Friday in the MGM Grand group beating case, after a massive late-night SWAT raid at the home of the first teen charged in the attack.
Demarcus Smith, 18, and a teenager whose name was not released because he is a juvenile were taken into custody shortly after midnight, Las Vegas police said. Smith remained jailed at the Clark County Detention Center late Friday.
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Authorities say five other beating and robbery attacks last weekend were committed by many, if not all, of the 10 to 15 young people who pummeled two MGM landscapers about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, an incident that was caught on tape by security cameras.
The charges filed against Smith, including four counts of robbery, suggest he is accused in more than just the MGM assault, but attempts to confirm that with several police spokesmen were not successful Friday evening.
Police say members of the group that beat the MGM workers also beat a woman and stole her purse outside a North Las Vegas Wal-Mart about two hours earlier.
North Las Vegas police reported Friday night that detectives had made one arrest in that case. The 17-year-old Canyon Springs High School student, whose name was not released, faces a single count of robbery. He has not been charged in the MGM case.
School sources said police have been working with administrators at four campuses this week to identify the juveniles caught on tape.
The schools are Mojave, Cimarron-Memorial and Canyon Springs high schools and Jeffrey Behavioral Junior/Senior High School in North Las Vegas, an alternative school for students who have been disciplinary problems for the district.
Members of the same group are suspected of pummeling and robbing a man at a Travelodge about 3 a.m. Saturday, a half-hour after the MGM assault.
Members of the group -- described by police as black and in their late teens and early 20s -- are also suspected of carrying out a string of attacks about 24 hours later.
From 2 a.m. to 3:05 a.m. Sunday, 10 to 15 young men plundered a convenience store for beer and snacks, assaulted a man at the store's gas pumps, beat and robbed a couple at a nearby park and shot a man there. The attacks were in the area of Tenaya Way and Vegas Drive.
Meanwhile on Friday, the family of the first teen police arrested in the MGM case, 18-year-old Daryle "D.J." Williams, complained that a police agency they had been cooperating with went overboard in the way a raid in search of evidence was carried out at their home late Thursday.
Tony and Deborah Duron, the uncle and aunt Williams lives with, said at least 40 police officers, including SWAT officers in an armored vehicle, descended upon their home about 11 p.m.
The couple said that after being woken up by flash-bang grenades -- police distraction devices that briefly emit blinding light and a loud noise -- they and their two sons were ordered out of the house, handcuffed and detained for an hour while police searched their home.
"I was offended they would treat us this way, embarrassing us in front of our neighbors, considering we've invited detectives into our home to interview Daryle," Tony Duron said. "We've cooperated with police, then they treat us like this?"
Williams' attorney, Brian Bloomfield, said the raid was improper.
"When police do raids at night, it's supposed to be for reasons of officer safety," he said. "There was no safety issue. They'd been invited into this family's home three days before. These are scare tactics. They want to make an example of him (Williams) and make the other kids who haven't turned themselves in think, 'I don't want my family to go through that.'"
Sheriff Bill Young said Friday that the raid was not excessive, considering what police knew about the suspects from the footage of the MGM attack.
"I saw the video, and it speaks for itself. That was not a juvenile prank. These are armed, very violent suspects, potential gang members," Young said.
"We don't lightly throw flash-bangs and do nighttime (search warrant) service. Our SWAT unit felt that's what they needed to safely serve this search warrant, and I stand by them."
Williams was not home during the raid.
Bloomfield said he had arranged for Williams to live elsewhere after the teen began receiving threats if he cooperated with police by identifying others involved in the MGM attack.
Bloomfield said his client has chosen not to give police information about the others involved.
Meanwhile, few details could be confirmed about the charges against Smith and the juvenile arrested Friday.
They were taken into custody in the early morning hours.
Police were asked throughout the day for information about the rumored arrests in the high-profile case, but they did not distribute a press release announcing them until 4:43 p.m.
Numerous attempts at determining whether Smith was charged in just the MGM case or in some of the other group attacks, as the nine criminal charges against him suggest, were unsuccessful.
Besides the four robbery counts, Smith faces two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery and one count each of burglary, battery with substantial bodily harm and coercion by force.
Williams, who is charged only in the MGM attack, faces only two counts: conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit battery with substantial bodily harm.
Asked if the charges against Smith indicated he had been implicated in the other attacks, officer Bill Cassell, who distributed the press release, responded, "I'm not going to get into that."
Other police officials dealing with the MGM case either had no additional information or could not be reached for comment.