20-year-old convicted in 2004 shooting
A 20-year-old North Las Vegas man was convicted Wednesday of 19 felony counts related to what prosecutors described as an “ambush-style murder” in the crowded parking lot of the Buena Vista apartment complex in 2004.
Jurors found Donnie Bryant guilty of murder in aid of a racketeering enterprise, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Prosecutors and witnesses told jurors during the 10-day trial that Bryant donned a black hooded sweatshirt and stormed the complex with at least one other man. The two fired shots into a crowd with the intention of killing Jarbirey Carter, but instead gunned down Gilbert Henry.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bliss said Bryant was a member of the Squad Up gang, a collection of rival gangsters who joined forces to cover more turf in part to sell more drugs. She said Bryant’s involvement in the shooting was to elevate his position within the “hybrid” street gang.
North Las Vegas detectives testified that after the shooting they found a black hooded sweatshirt in the garbage outside Bryant’s home. A lab expert said fragments from gunshots were discovered on the sweatshirt.
Bliss told jurors that the building tension in the apartment complex was partly due to gangs feuding over drug users.
Michael Harris, the first North Las Vegas police officer to respond to the shooting, said police were called to the apartment complex daily.
“It was like a big bowl with so many gangs in such a small area, and that’s why there were so many shootings,” Harris said.
Bryant is scheduled to be sentenced on May 19.