Two teens critically wounded in shooting

Two teenage boys were shot and critically wounded Friday night during a party at an east valley home.

Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives are investigating the incident because of the conditions of the two, whose names and ages were not released.

Lt. Lew Roberts said police were called out to the home on Beesley Drive, near Charleston and Nellis boulevards, about 10:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found the victims suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses told police that a male suspect approached the victims, pulled out two handguns and shot them. The suspect then robbed one of the victims before fleeing the area, according to police.

Several people from various gangs also showed up at the party unannounced prior to the shooting, witnesses told police.

The mother of one of the victims, Karen Brill, told KLAS-TV, Channel 8 today that her son had just turned 16 and was suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Neighbors in the older community, where large dirt lots are the norm and neighbors with horses in their back yards are not uncommon, identified the scene of the shooting as 65 Beesley Drive.

Jimmy Urquiaga, who lives across the street, said he was sitting in the front room of his house when he heard five gunshots ring out. He looked out the window and saw one victim on the ground at the end of his neighbor’s driveway.

“There were kids running everywhere and cars driving away,” the 37-year-old said. “There was blood everywhere.”

He called police and stayed in the doorway of his home. He said the people at the party appeared to be no older than ninth graders.

Brigido Rodriguez, 45, said he heard the party next door on Friday night but didn’t think anything of it. He said such violence is unheard of in his neighborhood.

But Urquiaga said police are called to the home “at least every weekend.” Adults at the home would not comment on the shooting. A 12-year-old boy said the party was for his 18-year-old sister. He said he didn’t see what had happened.

The two victims were taken to University Medical Center, where Roberts described one as in “very critical condition.”

Anybody with information on the incident is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.