In brief
MURDER CHARGE FILED
Teenager shot dead by friend in las vegas identified
The 16-year-old boy shot and killed by a friend on Thursday has been identified as Ivan Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was at a home on the 300 block of Lehman Street, near Stewart Avenue and Sandhill Road, when he was shot about 2:15 a.m., Las Vegas police said. The teen was with several other people, including another juvenile who began brandishing a firearm.
The juvenile fired one shot, hitting Rodriguez in the head. He died hours later at University Medical Center.
The boy, whose name was not released, left but was arrested at a home in the 2600 block of Bruce Street, near Sahara and Eastern avenues. He was taken to Clark County Juvenile Detention on one count of murder with a deadly weapon.
CROSSING CHARLESTON BOULEVARD
70-year-old man in wheelchair dies after being struck by car
A 70-year-old man in a wheelchair was struck and killed Friday morning by a car as he crossed Charleston Boulevard.
Las Vegas police said the man, who was not identified, was crossing at 11th Street in a marked crosswalk. At 11 a.m., he was struck by a 2008 Mini Cooper S driven by 42-year-old Nanette Riepenhoff of Las Vegas.
Police said she hit him while traveling east in a two-way center turn lane. The accident remains under investigation.
The man was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.
The incident was the 44th traffic-related fatality in the department's jurisdiction this year.
HENDERSON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Blazes in two abandoned residences called 'suspicious'
The Henderson Fire Department is investigating two "suspicious" fires that kept firefighters busy early Friday morning.
Both fires were near the intersection of Candelaria Drive and Fletcher Road, near the intersection of Serene and Eastern avenues, officials said.
The first fire began about 1:40 a.m. in a single-family home. The blaze was extinguished in about 15 minutes and caused about $5,000 in damage.
About 4 a.m., firefighters were called back to the area and battled a fire at a second residence. Firefighters took about an hour to control the blaze, which caused $50,000 in damage, officials said.
Both structures were abandoned.
WASHOE COUNTY DISTRICT COURT
Serial rapist gets life prison terms on top of death penalty
A pipefitter already on his way to Nevada's death row for the murder of a 19-year-old college coed was sentenced to four additional life prison terms on Friday on charges tied to sexual assaults on two other young women.
James Biela, 29, was convicted in June of strangling Brianna Denison, and jurors voted unanimously for him to be executed by lethal injection.
Washoe County District Judge Robert Perry on Friday added the four life terms -- to be served consecutively -- for the rape of Denison and two other women and the kidnapping of one of them.
"Not only were these people terrorized, but the community was terrorized," the judge said. "My first concern is the safety of the community."
The string of crimes around the University of Nevada, Reno campus began in October 2007 and culminated in Denison's death in early 2008.
Perry imposed the maximum sentences at the urging of one of the victims, who testified concerning Biela's October 2007 rape of her at gunpoint in a UNR parking garage.
While she has since gone on to graduate from UNR, get married and become pregnant with her first child, the sexual assault has "killed the trusting, vivacious woman I was," the woman said. Only her Christian faith has helped her deal with the "actions of evil" she was subjected to.
Biela looked down during the testimony.
"Mr. Biela, I wish you would look at me," the woman said. "Despite the fact you committed the most unforgivable act, I forgive you for everything you put me through. I pray you find peace with God because he's the only one who can save you."
Perry said he would sign the death warrant and set the date for the execution by Aug. 16. That triggers an automatic appeal to the state high court.
