Teen on bail in Strip attacks charged with murder

A teenager free on bail in a series of attacks along the Strip was charged with killing a woman just two days before he was scheduled to appear in court.

Already facing 14 counts in connection with three September armed robberies, Norman Renord Smith, 19, faces one count of open murder in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old woman in North Las Vegas on Sunday.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Smith appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing on charges of attempted murder, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and conspiracy.

He has been charged, along with six other people, in a series of terrifying attacks on three tourists and one valley resident. Two defendants in the case have cut deals with prosecutors.

Unique Berg testified Tuesday that Smith, whom she knew only as "Meech," told her of a plan to lure men and rob them. Berg, who was 17 at the time, agreed to testify and prosecutors dropped an attempted murder charge against her. She still faces several other charges as a juvenile.

Berg said she met up with Smith; Orlando Williams, 20; Roxanne Mir, 19; and Courtnee Bernard, 20, sometime on the evening of Sept. 5.

"The boys were going to drop us off at the Strip. We were going to flirt with some guys, basically get them to like us and follow us, and one of us girls would call the boys and they were going to meet up with us and rob them," Berg said. "They told us to go after foreign people because they have more money."

The women would approach men under the guise of needing assistance or propositioning sex, authorities said. The three incidents occurred over a span of about two hours in the early hours of Sept. 6.

Diana Tatarian, 29, and Wanda Turner, 63, each faced five counts, including conspiracy, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. They were charged only in connection with a robbery that started at Ellis Island Casino, less than a mile east of the Strip. Turner is expected to plead guilty to one count of robbery and one count of conspiracy later this week.

Berg also testified about one attempted attack near Treasure Island that was not listed in a detailed police report about the Sept. 6 attacks.

She said the women approached a group of men on the Strip, followed them inside a casino, but after the men became suspicious, they ran away.

After the failed attack, the group carried out three robberies: at a Motel 6 just south of the MGM, near the Tuscany Hotel, and inside the Aria parking garage. Authorities said Smith and Bernard fired shots in two of the robberies.

The preliminary hearing for the Strip attacks is scheduled to resume next month.

The defendants were arrested the same day of the robberies, and Smith was released after posting $160,000 just three days later. Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan, who set Smith's bail, declined to comment. Smith is slated to appear in North Las Vegas Justice Court on the murder charge Wednesday morning.

Williams, Mir and Bernard are being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $150,000 bail.

Turner is being held on $110,000 bail, and Tatarian remains behind bars on $125,000 bail.

On Sunday night, North Las Vegas police found Tineshea Antovia Adams with a gunshot to the chest outside a convenience store at the intersection of Craig Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard. She later died at University Medical Center.

Police said "multiple people" in a parking lot were involved in a quarrel before Smith fired at least one shot from a handgun. Smith knew the victim, and police said the slaying appeared to be domestic-related.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker