Veteran faces trial in slaying

Walter Laak still looks like a Marine.

The 27-year-old war veteran keeps his hair cropped in a military-style buzz cut and sits up straight like a disciplined Marine.

After surviving combat and two six-month tours in Iraq, Laak now is battling a murder charge in District Court.

Defense attorneys contend that Laak was trying to defend himself and others when he shot and killed 19-year-old Juan Cordova on June 5, 2007, during a confrontation at a friend's house.

Prosecutors claim that Laak shot Cordova, hid the 9 mm Beretta handgun used in the shooting and fled the scene immediately after the slaying.

His trial, which started this week, could conclude by Friday.

At the time of the shooting, Laak lived with his parents and was working as a grocery store security guard and a club bouncer. He also was attending ITT Technical Institute.

Authorities said Laak was at a friend's house near Vegas Valley Drive and Hollywood Boulevard when a woman and three men drove up on the night of the shooting. The woman, Leyvi Adrianna Aguirre-Rodriguez, was dating Laak's friend Oscar Orozco. She told her friends that Orozco had hit her.

Aguirre-Rodriguez told police that the three men she was with had been drinking and were intoxicated when they arrived at the house. The three men got out of the car and Orozco, his brother Juan Orozco and Laak came outside to confront them.

Juan Orozco, a Marine reservist who testified Wednesday, said the three men who accompanied Aguirre-Rodriguez came to the house "to hurt somebody."

Authorities said Laak pulled out the Beretta and two of the three men fled. Cordova then advanced on Laak. Orozco testified that Cordova was swinging his fists at Laak.

Laak fired a round that ricocheted off the ground and then fired again, Orozco said. The second round struck Cordova in the abdomen, killing him.

Defense attorney Edward Kane said Laak fired the first round as a warning shot.

After the shooting, Laak and Oscar Orozco fled. Laak turned himself in to Las Vegas police the following day. Laak said that the three men who came to the house were armed with knives and he shot "in self-defense," a Las Vegas police report states.

Laak refused to give police a recorded statement and was arrested and charged with murder with a deadly weapon.

Laak's family attended the trial and said he comes from a family with a tradition of military service. His father Gary Laak served 20 years in the Air Force. His older sister, Lara Laak, served in the Army with the 67th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq during 2004, at the same time Laak was there on his second tour. Laak was deployed to Iraq for the first time in 2003. He was honorably discharged as a lance corporal in 2005.

According to a report by the New York Times published earlier this year, at least 121 veterans from the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan committed killings, or were charged with killings, after they returned to the United States. The Times' story said post traumatic stress, family problems and alcohol abuse probably contributed to the homicides.

In one notable Las Vegas case, 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran Matthew Sepi killed one man and wounded another in a 2005 shooting near Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. Sepi, who was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, was charged with murder. According to the Times, authorities agreed to drop the charges if he successfully completed counseling for drugs and stress.

Kane characterized Laak's shooting as a self-defense case and isn't arguing in court that post-combat trauma played a role in the slaying.

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