Las Vegas police arrested a 16-year-old Palo Verde High School student early Saturday morning who they believe was the gunman in Friday's drive-by shooting that left a Palo Verde freshman dead.
The suspect, a sophomore at the school who was not identified by authorities because he is a juvenile, was found hiding about 3 a.m. in a friend's bedroom in a house near Decatur Boulevard and U.S. Highway 95, according to police. He was taken into custody without incident.
Police on Saturday were uncertain of the motive in the shooting that has stunned students and parents at the Summerlin high school.
Deputy Chief Ted Moody said he didn't know of a relationship between the suspect and the victim other than that they attended the same school. "We don't know that the two boys even knew each other," Moody said.
Friends gathered at a candlelight vigil Saturday night at the scene of the shooting identified the victim as Chris Privett, a freshman at the school who played center on one of the school's football teams. Police have not identified the victim.
"He was my best friend," said 15-year-old Sierra Vista freshman Daniel Kane as he struggled to fight back tears. "He was always making jokes. He was so funny."
He was studious, respectful and nonconfrontational, friends said.
"I have never seen him argue with anybody" or get into trouble, said 15-year-old Manuel Ramos. "That was the total opposite of how he was."
Moody would not comment on the background of the suspect, who police say was traveling in a car with four other people at the time of the shooting: two female students at Palo Verde and two young men who never attended the school.
Police have identified all of the people in the car and have talked with all but one of the girls. None had been charged with a crime by Saturday afternoon, Moody said. Two of the four people had minor criminal backgrounds, he said.
The suspect was booked in the Clark County juvenile detention center on one charge of murder with a deadly weapon, three counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and four counts of firing a weapon from a moving vehicle.
Police had no indication that any of the people involved in the shooting had ties to gangs and were uncertain whether the shooter had spent much time -- or any -- planning the incident, Moody said.
The shooting took place just a few hundred yards from the high school and about 20 minutes after classes ended.
The victim and three other boys were walking home, east along Alta Drive, just east of Pavilion Center Drive, when the shooter fired a handgun at them from the rear-passenger window of a passing vehicle at 1:43 p.m.
The victim was hit once, police said. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
Another bullet struck another student's backpack but didn't injure him, police said.
The gunman fired two more bullets: one struck a home, the other a brick wall behind the students.
The car, which was driven by an adult, immediately sped away.
Moody said police were unsure which of the four students was the intended target.
"The group was certainly the target of the shots fired from the vehicle, but we have no reason to believe that any specific individual in that group was the target," Moody said.
A woman, who did not want her name used, said she was driving behind the car carrying the suspect and witnessed the shooting. She said she saw an arm holding a handgun extend from the vehicle and aim at the group.
She said she thought it was just a "popgun." She saw one of the students flinch but didn't think the student had been hit.
The shooter appeared nonchalant while firing the weapon, she said.
"It was just like you're going to throw a gum wrapper out the window," she said. "That's how meaningless it was."
A flood of tips and witness accounts helped police capture the suspect, Moody said.
The residents of the home where the suspect was hiding were not believed to have been involved in the shooting and have not been charged with a crime, police said.
"This is just an unimaginable personal tragedy," Moody said.
Many of the friends of the victim and Palo Verde students gathered Saturday evening around flowers and candles had eyes red from crying.
"I never thought I would get out of (biology) class and never see him again," 14-year-old freshman Elizabeth Thompson said of Privett.
Kane's mother, 36-year-old Ronda Kane, said Privett would often visit her house.
"He was one of the funniest people I've met," she said. "He was just a pleasure to have over."
Junior Howard Matlock didn't know the victim but was dumbfounded by the violence that was unprecedented at his school. "I'm just in shock," the 17-year-old said.
Those at the vigil appeared surprised that their friend and fellow student had been the target of violence.
"It hasn't hit me," Ramos said. "I tried picturing him dead. I can't imagine this happening to somebody like him."
About halfway through the vigil, the Rev. Joel Garcia read from Psalms and recited the Lord's Prayer.
"We pray for those who did this," Garcia said. "Father, they've been deceived."
Still, others wondered about the motives behind the shooting.
"It just seemed like random violence," Ronda Kane said. "I don't know why kids do things like this."
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0440.
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