No answers in deadly shooting

Two years ago, Shanna Vukasin's life came crashing down when her 24-year-old son was gunned down at a Las Vegas block party in the historic Berkley Square neighborhood. She cannot recover, in part because her son's killers remain free even though police say they know who they are and where they live.

"There can never be closure without some kind of answer. With no arrest, there are no answers," Vukasin said.

The killing, which took place on Memorial Day in 2006, remains one of the most brazen shootings in Las Vegas history. A group of youths opened fire into a crowd of hundreds at a family-oriented block party near Lake Mead Boulevard and D Street.

Las Vegas police think the teens fired at least 30 rounds. They killed Vukasin's son, Steven "Goldie" Beck, 41-year-old Tina Robles and 24-year-old Germar Samuel, and wounded at least five others.

Police have a photo of six teens taken moments before the shooting who they believe are connected to the case. In the course of their investigation, police learned the identities of the shooters and where they are, said Lt. Lew Roberts of the Metropolitan Police Department's homicide unit.

Yet the case remains stalled for one reason: No one is willing to come forward and testify against the shooters.

"We had three people killed and a multitude of people out there" at the scene of the shooting," Roberts said.

"Why aren't people coming forward and doing the right thing?"

Roberts knows the answer. People are afraid to testify for fear of retaliation. Some in the neighborhood don't want to be known as snitches.

"They have a group of people who terrorized the community. We hope people will come forward and testify and do the right thing," Roberts said.

Police aren't giving up on the case. They will meet with prosecutors in the Clark County district attorney's office this week to go over the case.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said he can't discuss the ongoing investigation but said prosecutors and detectives have been working on the case and are determined that justice will be served.

Over the past two years, Las Vegas police took unusual steps to break the Berkley Square case and other unsolved gang-related homicides in West Las Vegas, the area generally bordered by Carey Avenue to the north, Bonanza Road to the south, Interstate 15 to the east and Rancho Drive to the west. The area includes the Berkley Square neighborhood.

In February 2007, Las Vegas police formed the Homicide Task Force, a unit of three Las Vegas police detectives overseen by Roberts. They were assigned to investigate nine homicides and solved two.

The unit was disbanded this year. Roberts said the unit initially was to form for about three months, but top brass extended the program for a year.

Although the task force is disbanded, detectives continue to chip away at the Berkley Square case and others.

For Vukasin, who lives with her son's death every day, the frustration she feels that police haven't arrested anyone is almost overwhelming. She dreads May, the month of her son's slaying that also includes Mother's Day.

The holiday now has a darker meaning for her.

Beck, a graduate of Horizon High School in North Las Vegas, was a cook at the Rampart Casino in Summerlin. He was also a car enthusiast and the father of two daughters, now 5 and 8. His kids now live with Vukasin.

"There isn't a day where my thoughts aren't with him," Vukasin said. "I just hope that we'll have justice some day for me and him and the other families."

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara @reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.