PALO VERDE SHOOTING: Arrest made in fatal drive-by - News

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Feb. 17, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

PALO VERDE SHOOTING: Arrest made in fatal drive-by

Fellow students mourn victim during candlelight vigil

By LAWRENCE MOWER
REVIEW-JOURNAL

School Shootings

The Rev. Joel Garcia, right, reads the Lord's Prayer at a vigil Saturday night for the victim of Friday's drive-by shooting that claimed the life of a Palo Verde High School freshman.
Photos by Ralph Fountain.

Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief Ted Moody talks to a reporter at a news conference Saturday to announce the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of a Palo Verde High School freshman.

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.

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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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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. chantel wrote on April 09, 2008 06:49 AM: wow. i am so sorry. that is horrible. my friend who attends pvhs was all shooken up and her boyfriend was privett's best friend. that is so horrible. cimmaronstudentt wrote on February 25, 2008 09:56 PM: mann.i really understand what you all are sayinq i feel bad for chris yeahh. of course qerald shouldnt; have done it,. BUT GERALD IS MY FRIEND FOR LIFE I KNEW HIM SINCE 7TH GRADE && IM HOLDING HIM DOWN.... r.i.p chris && my condolences qoes out to his familyy. UNKNOWN wrote on February 20, 2008 12:26 PM: If you don’t live in Summering you should not be attending any of the schools in this area we work hard to provide a great environment for our children and we should as a community not allow other kids to be shipped in to our schools because they are removed from the other schools for the bad stuff they have don there. If you want to think I am racist go ahead because I AM NOT WHITE!! I just want my kids to feel safe and be safe!!!!! angrypalostudent wrote on February 19, 2008 09:00 PM: Fact: Blacks represent 12% of the population in the United States, and make up 85% of the prison population. I can't stand the people who just pull wool over their eyes and get pissed that the "evil white people" automatically guess the gunman was black...and what happens? He was black. It's bullshit that my parents spend all this extra money to live in Summerlin, and the kids from the ghetto are bussed over here to create "diversity". It's not even a question of race, its a fact that the people who choose Summerlin were sold on the fact that it is a community where parents are actually aware and involved in what their kids are doing. P.S- My mom and dad both grew up in Las Vegas. Spencer Brown wrote on February 19, 2008 12:48 PM: I used to go to Palo Verde High School. It was a great four years of peace. Now we have kids who have decided to be stupid and try and scare others or prove themselves or something else completly. I do not understand why things have changed. Summerlin was a great neighborhood. I have family and friends who still live there. Now I need to worry about their safety. I hope the students, especially the seniors, of Palo Verde High School will rise above the violence and prove to the world that it is wrong to take a human life. LIZZIE wrote on February 19, 2008 11:38 AM: I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MT DEAR FRIEND CHRISTOPHER COMPUTERS WILL NOT BE THE SAME WITH OUT YOU I HOPE THAT YOU WILL REST IN PEACE AND ALWAYS REMEBER THAT YOU WERE LOVED BY MANY PEOPLE unknown wrote on February 19, 2008 11:34 AM: i hope that hthe people tht did this will pay i cant stand to see that someone will hurt the friend i only could tell about my problems we where supposed to go to the movies and i was supposed to meet his mom for the first time i hope that all of the people that was involved will never see day light ever again because of them i lost a real good friend and i will never get to here that we can be friends until the end of time i hope that the kids would relize that bad things happen to real good people and i hope that the 2 girls and the other people will get arrested cause if they are one the streets i will never feel safe to go anywhere ever again i want to let christopher family know that they are in my prayers and everything is going to be alright and that they will get exactly what them idoits deserve i also hope they will pull through and remeber that everything is going to be alright and also know that i will never forget the last time i said goodbye but i didnt know that my goodbye would be forever rest in peace christopher the freshmans will never forget the way your made them feel and also we will never forget the way you made people that feel sad happy all over again i will never forget you and i hope that your family will understand that you are in a better place and them idoits will get wat u deserve so i hope that them kids get LIFE in Jail ILOVEYOUCHRISTOPHER Jon wrote on February 18, 2008 09:24 PM: As a father, my heart goes out to the family of the victim, because there life will never be the same and this isn't fair. Here's a young man with a future, who's life has been taken away by some who don't have one. So why beat around the bush. Unfortunately, we can't burn them at the stake, but we can definitely strengthen these gun laws and stop being so linient with these worthless bastards. There is no reason in the world why these people should have access to guns. This seems to be the only civilized country where having access to weapons is so simple. And why can't we punish them more severely? Everyone who was involved, from the shooter, passengers, driver, even the parents of these people should be held accountable for all that has happened. Chris Privett is not getting his life back, and niether should they. My heart goes out to Chris and his family. I hope that they find peace and even though I'm not a religious man, I do believe he's in a better place and I hope that gives you some comfort. For the suspects, I wish they get punished to the fullest extent of the law. david wrote on February 18, 2008 05:23 PM: Too bad about all the racism in the comments. Why don't you ask: where did he get the gun? Not from Mexico, I'm guessing. John wrote on February 18, 2008 10:06 AM: We have a child at Palo, and it's idiots like these kids that can turn a nice area into a battlefield - in this case, we need to stop it before it gets out of hand and severely punish those responsible. On a few notes: 1) the shooter should be charged as an adult, and eligible for the death penalty, 2) all of those in the car should be considered accessories, and the adults should be charged with conspiracy since they did nothing to stop the shooter, 3) all efforts should be made to find the woman who fled and additional, severe charges made against her, 4) the other kids in the car, perhaps not charged as adults, should never be allowed back into Palo, 5) the names of all of the criminals should be released so people can know what kind of kids, as well as families, these kids are part of, and finally, 6) the principal at Palo should take immediate steps to sit the entire school down, condemn what happened, let kids know they can report these kinds of things before they happen, make a memorial to the dead student, and let students know exactly what is expected to happen to the shooters and accomplices as a lesson. How the principal handles this situation that is going to tell me the quality and worth of him as an administrator and leader - I hope he comes through with flying colors! Read All Comments