Teen linked to another shooting

One of the teens arrested in the wounding of six people at a bus stop is also accused of shooting a 40-year-old woman twice in the stomach.

Nicco Tatum, 18, was arrested in Denver last week in connection with the Dec. 11 afternoon shooting at a school bus stop at Walnut and Alexander roads. Las Vegas police recommended that he be charged with six counts of attempted murder and six counts of battery with a deadly weapon in that case.

This week, they recommended that he face additional charges of attempted murder, battery with use of a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, and possession of a stolen gun in the shooting of Tracy Beavers on the night of Dec. 5, a police report said.

Beavers lives in a neighborhood that is a few blocks south of where the bus stop shooting occurred. The police report said a group of men and teenage boys had walked from Alexander Park into Beavers' neighborhood.

When the group walked past Beavers' home, her dog began barking and climbing on the front yard fence. One of the men in the group said Tatum walked over to the dog, taunted it and possibly struck it, according to the police report.

Members of the group got about a block away from Beavers' home before she caught up with them. Beavers asked them why they were harassing her dog and who had been hitting her dog.

Tatum and Beavers argued, and Tatum then fired six shots at Beavers, a witness told police. Officers later found Tatum's red-hooded sweatshirt in a front yard in the 3900 block of Walnut, and wrapped inside it was a stolen .38-caliber revolver, according to the police report.

Witnesses at the bus stop told police Tatum was one of two gunmen in that later shooting. Police found 9 mm and .45-caliber shell casings at the scene.

After the bus stop shooting, Tatum hopped a Greyhound headed for Chicago. He was arrested when the bus made a stop in Denver.

Tatum told police the two gunmen in the bus stop shooting were Franklin Jackson, 17, and Dresden Williams, 18. Jackson and Williams were arrested this week. Authorities recommended that Jackson and Williams each face six counts of attempted murder and six counts of battery with a deadly weapon.

The same charges can be filed against Tatum even if he didn't fire the shots at the bus stop. Under Nevada law, anyone who "aids or abets" an attempt to kill another person can be charged with attempted murder.

Tatum remained in the custody of the Denver County sheriff's office Thursday afternoon awaiting extradition to Las Vegas.

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