Wednesday, July 9, 2014 | 4:18 p.m.
A convicted felon is in custody, charged with murder and attempted murder in a shooting last month at a Las Vegas condo that police say was brought on by the man’s anger over a missing ID card, Social Security card and computer.
Kareem David Wilkes, 34, was arrested Tuesday and has been charged in Las Vegas Township Justice Court with 17 counts in the June 20 shooting that left Michael McCarthy, 54, dead, and McCarthy’s girlfriend and another woman wounded.
Metro, in a warrant affidavit filed July 1 and released publicly today, related the following account from witness interviews:
Residents at 2681 Heritage Court first realized something was amiss when Wilkes, known as "Money,” barged into the condo on June 19, the day before the shooting, and demanded to know the whereabouts of his wallet. Wilkes had been at the house hours earlier with his friend, one of the condo’s occupants.
After barging in, Wilkes found the wallet on top of a computer, but the ID and Social Security cards weren't in it.
Wilkes took a sword from a cane he was using and threatened the residents, saying that unless he got his belongings back, he would come back and make sure everyone in the house was gone. The friend asked if Wilkes would kick them out. Wilkes said no, but that he would kill every person there.
The friend left for Circus Circus, where he stayed the night. The next day, he ran into trouble with hotel security and texted Wilkes to come get him. Wilkes texted back, saying he would pick up the friend, and then they would go back to his house and "deal" with the people there.
The friend, however, was arrested for a separate crime before Wilkes could reach him.
About 10:30 a.m. June 20, Wilkes arrived at the condo with another man and started banging on the door, breaking a window in the process. In the residence at the time were four people: McCarthy, his girlfriend and two sisters.
Wilkes walked in and said, "I want my stuff back." McCarthy came out to speak with him. Wilkes also asked where his computer was, and one of the women told him the friend had taken it with him the previous night.
Soon afterward, the shooting broke out.
Callers to 911 reported shots fired from the address. When police arrived, McCarthy was found dead on the floor of the southwest bedroom. His girlfriend, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, was in a northeast bedroom. One of the sisters was found in the northwest bedroom, also suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The two women were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
A neighbor who suffered a grazing wound to the wrist from a bullet that went through a common wall refused treatment.
Wilkes and the second man fled the condo, but Wilkes later was identified in a lineup by several of the witnesses, including the two women who were shot. The second man has not been identified.
Wilkes, who police said was convicted in 2006 in California on a felony drug charge, was arrested Tuesday.
The 17 charges filed against him are: murder with a deadly weapon, two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit burglary, burglary while in possession of a firearm, battery with a deadly weapon, possession of a gun by a prohibited person and seven counts of discharging a firearm within a structure.
Wilkes remains in the Clark County Detention Center and is due in court for arraignment at 8 a.m. Thursday.
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