Man faces five felonies in Caesars shootings

Richard Earl Shepherd will face five felonies in District Court, including three counts of attempted murder.

Shepherd, who was also charged with burglary and carrying a concealed firearm, has been in custody at the county jail since Aug. 8, four days after the shooting at the casino in which two people were wounded.

According to police, the shooting happened just after 4 a.m., when a group of four men got into a fight with another group that included two men and two women near the elevators that lead to the self-parking garage.

The fight began when one man made comments about Shepherd’s sister.

Fisticuffs ensued and Shepherd was punched in the face, the report said. He then got on an elevator with his sister and went to the parking lot, where Shepherd’s sister tried to talk him out of returning to the casino, the report said.

Shepherd is seen on surveillance video in the elevator with a gun as he heads back to the location where the fight occurred, the report said. When he returned to the casino level, he started shooting when the elevator doors opened, the report said.

Shepherd fired at least four shots, striking 20-year-old Vance Davis and 23-year-old Markael Ballou, neither of whom were involved in the fistfight, the report said. Terrance Aubry is listed in the indictment as another victim of the attempted murder.

Both were treated and released from University Medical Center.

Shepherd was identified as the shooter by several witnesses who picked him out of photo lineups, according to the arrest report.

The grand jury heard from witnesses who identified Shepherd as the shooter Tuesday afternoon and the indictment was announced in Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle’s courtroom on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Victoria Villegas requested Hardcastle increase Shepherd’s bail from $90,000 to $250,000, following the grand jury indictment, a motion which Hardcastle granted.

He is expected to be arraigned Sept. 5.