Gang member indicted in shootout at Sparks casino
November 17, 2011 - 2:00 am
RENO -- A third motorcycle gang member has been indicted on murder charges in the September shooting at a Nevada casino that killed the president of the Hells Angels' San Jose, Calif., chapter.
Court records unsealed in Washoe District Court on Wednesday identify Gary Stuart Rudnick as a Vagos gang member and co-conspirator in the shooting of Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks.
Rudnick faces a murder charge with Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, a fellow Vagos member who police say fired the shots that killed Pettigrew the night of Sept. 23. It wasn't clear whether Rudnick had been taken into custody .
Hells Angels member Cesar Villagrana was named in the indictment on a murder charge because he was involved in a shootout, authorities alleged, that led to Pettigrew's death.
All three suspects were indicted on a felony count of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. Gonzalez, 53, also was indicted on a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon.
Villagrana, 36, of Gilroy, Calif., is accused of shooting two other Vagos members that night at the casino, one in the leg and one in the stomach. A third Vagos member was shot in the stomach the next morning by someone in a passing car a few blocks away from the casino.
Another killing followed Oct. 15 at Pettigrew's funeral in San Jose . Police think that fatal shooting involved only Hells Angels.