Residents mourn slain pizza delivery man

A card decorated with a hand-drawn pizza was left next to five bouquets of flowers Monday evening in a North Las Vegas neighborhood.

Someone named Hali penned a message to the "Pizza Guy."

"You were a nice guy & always delivered our pizza," Hali wrote. "Thank you & good luck in heaven."

The pizza delivery man fatally shot in a residential street Saturday night was identified Monday by the Clark County coroner's office as 51-year-old John Norris of Las Vegas. North Las Vegas police found Norris dead from gunshot wounds about 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the 5800 block of Rose Sage Street, near Ann Road and Camino Al Norte.

The memorial that included Hali's card was placed in front of a two-story house, where neighbors said Norris delivered the pizza to an unoccupied home. Nearby resident Phil Hertz said the home where Norris was sent had been empty for about eight months. He wondered whether Norris was ambushed.

"It's probably a sign of the times due to the fact that unemployment is as high as it is," Hertz said.

North Las Vegas police spokeswoman Chrissie Coon said the slaying was the result of a robbery. No arrests had been made as of late Monday evening.

Hertz said Norris worked at a Pizza Hut near Ann Road and Simmons Street, about a mile from where he was slain. Maggie Verboon, a friend and neighbor of Norris, said he was a Navy veteran rebounding from hard times. He was attending massage therapy school and wanted to make a better future for himself and his teenage daughter.

"He was not just a pizza delivery man, he was a wonderful, giving person," she said.