Teen arrested in Las Vegas park shooting that left 1 dead, 2 injured
A 17-year-old boy was arrested Monday in connection with a northeast valley park shooting that left another teenager dead and two others injured, police records show.
Jose Juarez was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure or vehicle and conspiracy to commit robbery. Records show that his arrest was linked to the shooting.
The Metropolitan Police Department has said that three juveniles were identified as suspects and would be booked accordingly for multiple felony charges, including open murder. Juarez was the only person who appeared on Metro’s booking log, which only includes those who have been processed in the adult system, under the shooting’s event number.
Metro officers were called to a park in the 4400 block of East Washington Avenue, where East Las Vegas Family Park is located, around 1 a.m. Monday, in response to a ShotSpotter alert that shots had been fired in the area.
Arriving officers found three people, all in their mid-to-late teens, in the basketball court area suffering from gunshot wounds, Metro said in a Tuesday news release.
One person, whose identity has not been released by the Clark County coroner’s office, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said they later learned the victim was sitting on a bench with a woman when a car pulled up and two boys climbed out armed with firearms. The two tried to rob one of the victims, police said, and a shootout ensued.
The suspects fled in the vehicle and were stopped by police before leaving the park.
The surviving two victims were transported to University Medical Center, where police noted that they were in “stable but critical condition.”
When Juarez appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday, Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum ordered that he be held without bail.
Juarez’s relatives, two of whom identified themselves as his aunts, also attended the hearing, weeping when the boy came forward to hear his charges. As he was led out of the courtroom, he blew them a kiss.
Juarez is due in court again on Thursday.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
