Maintenance worker dies, another hurt in shooting at apartment complex

By ANTONIO PLANAS

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Two maintenance workers who were "merely doing their jobs" were shot, one fatally, at an apartment complex off Sahara Avenue between Lamb and Nellis boulevards Friday afternoon, Las Vegas police said.

Homicide Sgt. Russ Shoemaker said the two men were fixing a broken a window at 12:04 p.m. at the Village at Karen Apartments when they encountered a group of five males who were in the middle of a burglary.

Shoemaker said the maintenance workers "had a verbal altercation" with the five males. One of them confronted the complex employees six minutes later with a pistol.

"He fired at both the maintenance workers, striking both of them," Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker did not release the name of the deceased man or the worker who was injured. He said the man who survived was expected to recover from his injuries.

Shoemaker described the shooting suspect as a black male who was between his late teenage years and his early 20s. The suspect stood between 6 feet tall and 6-feet-3 inches tall. He weighed between 160 pounds and 180 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a dark blue hat fleeing north toward a wash on East Sahara, Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker added that no suspects were arrested in the burglary.

Several residents at the complex said they didn't know the two maintenance workers by name, but knew of them.

Tony Robles said he pulled into the parking lot of his complex shortly after the shooting and saw one of the maintenance men holding is left arm, which was bleeding profusely.

Robles said the man told him his co-worker was killed after being shot in the face.

"He was crying because his buddy was on the ground dead," Robles said.

Robles said he stayed with the man until the paramedics took him to a hospital about 10 minutes later. He described the maintenance workers as between 40 and 50 years old.

Robles and several neighbors said the shooting shook the residents of the complex. The residents said both of the maintenance workers lived at the complex and were often seen scooting about the complex's grounds in a golf cart.

Rosendo Valenzuela, who has lived at the complex five months, was personally moved by something one of the maintenance workers did for him several months back.

His apartment's heater wasn't working during the winter, Valenzuela said, and he was concerned for his one-year-old son.

One of the maintenance workers, possibly the one who died, offered Valenzuela a portable electric heater for the night, which he kept until his heater was fixed the next day.

Valenzuela said the shooting "just makes me sad."

He added that there is a lot of crime in the complex and that he's considering moving.

"It's getting too dangerous," Valenzuela said. "The rent is cheap, but it's just not worth it."

Anyone with information on the shootings should call Las Vegas police's Homicide Section at 828-3521, or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.