Shots shatter celebration

A birthday celebration that began with a new pair of sneakers ended in a hail of gunfire Wednesday night, after assailants fired on a group of boys, wounding four.

The shootings occurred in the courtyard of a public housing complex near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Washington Avenue.

A 10-year-old boy, identified by family as "Jo Jo," was shot in the back, family members said. The bullet exited his stomach, puncturing his liver, said his aunt, Kitty Scott, 20.

The boy was in intensive care at University Medical Center on Thursday and spoke to his family, Scott said.

"He's just scared," she said.

Police said a 17-year-old boy was shot in the head. He also was taken to UMC, where he was in critical condition Thursday afternoon.

Two other boys, including one who was celebrating his birthday, were treated at the hospital for minor gunshot wounds and released, police said.

Detectives, who were continuing to investigate the shooting Thursday, said they believed it was gang-related.

"It appears they were targeted," Las Vegas police Capt. Gary Schofield said of the boys. "Do we think it's a random act of violence? No. There was some type of dispute between the two different parties."

The shooters remained at large late Thursday. Police said they were looking for two suspects between 16 and 21 years old, but they didn't have information beyond that.

The victims were playing dice inside the courtyard of the Marble Manor apartments on the 1300 block of Morgan Avenue about 10 p.m. when the gunmen approached, police said.

Witnesses said at least 10 teenagers were in the courtyard, and one of the victims, identified by friends only as "Roger," was celebrating his birthday.

The suspects approached the group and fired multiple times before fleeing in a light-colored four-door sedan, police said.

About 30 spent shell casings from three different weapons were recovered, and police were looking into whether a gunbattle had broken out between the victims and the assailants.

"I heard a boom, and then boom, boom, boom," said a boy, adding that he is friends with the victims. He declined to be identified for fear of retribution from the shooters.

The boy said he was inside an apartment at the time of the shooting and didn't see anything. But he said Roger was celebrating his birthday Wednesday and had been given a new pair of shoes earlier in the day.

"That's why I say, 'Birthday is the worst day,' " he said.

Another friend of the victims, 17-year-old John Smith, said the 10-year-old boy attended Williams Elementary School and the teens attended Canyon Springs and Mojave high schools.

Smith said the victims aren't in a gang and described them as "little kids who were playing." But he also feared that the shooting would spark retaliation, a fear shared by the police.

"I'm always worried about retaliation," Schofield said. "That's what we're trying to avoid."

Scott said her understanding of the shooting was that only one of the boys shot was intended to be a target. The other three, including her nephew, "Jo Jo," were bystanders, she said.

"He didn't do anything," Scott said. "There were nothing but kids out here when they started shooting. These weren't adults."

On Thursday night, it appeared kids ruled the streets as dozens ran up and down the block, laughing and playing, seemingly unfazed by Wednesday night's violence.

The West Las Vegas neighborhood, the site of Wednesday's shooting, saw a surge in violence in 2006. There were 29 homicides in the area last year, a 56 percent increase from the year before, according to police. The historically black neighborhood is generally bordered by Carey Avenue on the north, Bonanza Road on the south, Interstate 15 on the east and Rancho Drive on the west.

In January, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie started the Safe Village initiative in the area. The effort aims to crack down on shootings and killings in West Las Vegas by bringing together church leaders and city and school officials and stepping up police enforcement.

Police say violence in the area has gone down since the initiative was launched. In January, there were 19 illegal shootings in the area but only five in February and five in March, Schofield said.

"People just want to be able to live in the neighborhood without having to worry about their children going out and catching bullets," he said.

On Thursday night, about 50 members of the Safe Village initiative gathered at M Street and Morgan Avenue, a few houses away from where the shooting occurred.

"We are sending out a message that we are not going to tolerate gangs or gang violence," said the Rev. Elbert Taylor, 53.

Safe Village participants went door to door handing out literature and talking to residents about what happened.

Taylor said the group will go back out to the neighborhood if there is another shooting.

"We are going to continue to be here in the neighborhood to educate and prevent violence," he said.