Criminal record for Strip shooting suspect includes prostitution-related charges
The Las Vegas man arrested in connection with the Friday shooting near the Strip that left two women dead previously faced charges of pandering, battery and child abuse.
Court records show that Omar Talley, 30, was arrested in 2009 on charges of kidnapping, pandering and abuse, neglect or endangerment of a child. He was acquitted of the kidnapping charges in 2010 but sentenced to the Nevada Department of Corrections for the other charges by the Las Vegas District Court.
In 2008, Talley was fined $2,000 and sentenced to community service and counseling for other counts of pandering and attempted pandering. In the same year Talley was also arrested and charged with battery, according to Las Vegas Justice Court records.
NRS 201.300 states that a person is guilty of pandering if he "[i]nduces, persuades, encourages, inveigles, entices or compels a person to become a prostitute or to continue to engage in prostitution."
According to his Facebook page, Talley graduated from Palo Verde High School in 2001 and studied at the College of Southern Nevada.
On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police Department said Talley had been arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center where he faces charges of murder with a deadly weapon, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, discharging a gun at/into an occupied vehicle (six counts), and discharging a gun from a vehicle (six counts).
The two women killed in the shooting have been identified by the Clark County coroner's office as Melissa Mendoza, 27, and Jennifer Chicas, 27, both from California. In addition to the women, a man was critically injured in the shooting and was taken to University Medical Center.
The shooting stemmed from a fight involving several men at the parking garage of Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops, 3667 Las Vegas Blvd. South, around 1:18 a.m. Friday.
After the fight was broken up by security guards, a silver Hyundai pulled onto Audrie Street followed by a dark gray 2015 Toyota Camry. Lt. Dan McGrath of Metro's homicide section said a man, described as a black man in his early 20s, was seen on surveillance footage getting out of the Camry and aiming a gun at the Hyundai.
Police received calls around 1:30 a.m. reporting gunfire. Responding officers at the intersection of Harmon Avenue and Aldebaran Avenue found a woman suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. She was taken to University Medical Center, where she later died.
A second woman was found unconscious and suffering from apparent gunshot wounds in a car that entered the valet area of The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, 3708 Las Vegas Blvd. South, police said. She was also taken to UMC, where she later died.
Based on evidence at the scene, police believe the shooting took place at or near Harmon Boulevard and Aldebaran Avenue, the release said.
Detectives are still seeking the public's assistance in locating the Camry believed connected to the homicide. The car bears the California license plate 7MNJ601.
— Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @maxmichor
