Shooting followed gang rules

Three young gangsters accused of killing a southwest valley teen were just "busting a mission," a slang term for committing a robbery, Las Vegas police were told.

And while busting a mission, there are rules: A victim who tries to run away is shot.

Dominique Evans, a 19-year-old whose path crossed that of three admitted gang members early Sunday morning, didn't try to flee. Evans surrendered his wallet, which had $17 and a few credit cards inside. He didn't resist though one gang member pistol-whipped him in the back of his head outside his home near Desert Inn and Cimarron roads.

But Evans' girlfriend ran to get help, according to police. That broke the gang's insider rules.

Antonio Tarrosa, a juvenile whose age was not released, told police what happened next, according to arrest reports.

Tarrosa thought about shooting the girlfriend but decided he didn't want to shoot a woman, and instead he shot Evans, who was facedown on the ground, according to police.

Evans cried out, fell unconscious and died after being taken to University Medical Center.

Tarrosa, with 19-year-old Dennis Laneave and 20-year-old Brian D. Gonzalez, were arrested by Las Vegas police this week and charged with murder, robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Tarrosa is also facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.

They told police they are members of the Valley Park Criminal Gangsters, according to the arrest reports.

Several people came forward with information that led to the arrests. Tarrosa, Laneave and Gonzalez each told police what happened, the reports said.

In the early morning hours on Sunday, witnesses told police, they saw the trio leave a party to go "bust a mission."

The three stopped near Buffalo Drive and Desert Inn Road about 2:30 a.m. as a pedestrian was walking by. Tarrosa got out of the car and tried to rob the man, the reports said.

The man ran. Tarrosa, wearing a hood and a bandana over his face, chased him through the parking lot of a CVS drugstore, and he shot at the man as he fled, according to police.

That man escaped. A passer-by called police, but they have been unable to locate the victim.

The trio then drove in Gonzalez's black Chevrolet Cavalier to Evans' neighborhood on Edenville Drive, a few blocks from the CVS.

Evans, a basketball and soccer coach who graduated from Spring Valley High School in 2008, was walking with his girlfriend to his car. The two were going to get something to eat.

After the robbery and fatal shooting, the trio switched cars to a Nissan Altima and tried to use two of Evans' credit cards at a McDonald's on the corner of Buffalo Drive and Flamingo Road, according to police reports. The cards didn't work, and they left without food.

They separated later.

Police recovered video surveillance from the McDonald's, and several people who knew Tarrosa, Laneave and Gonzalez came forward to help in the investigation.

One person told police that Tarrosa said he "was on the news because he shot a subject he was robbing the night prior."

The crime was similar to the killing in July of 38-year-old Kevin Franchow. Franchow, who had the intellect of a 10-year-old, was beaten, robbed and shot multiple times in a park on Ducharme Avenue near Buffalo Drive.

Nobody has been arrested in the slaying. Lt. Lew Roberts said police have not been able to connect the two cases.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.