Teen to be tried as adult in fatal shooting of bystander

By Pashtana Usufzy

Monday, Aug. 17, 2015 | 10:05 p.m.

A teenager will be tried as an adult as he faces charges in connection with the shooting death of a 24-year-old woman outside her workplace in April.

Chris Brown, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was arrested on counts of murder with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon after 24-year-old Las Vegas resident Cassandra Lee Cassidy was fatally shot April 17.

He was certified as an adult Monday, according to the Clark County District Attorney's Office.

Cassidy was pulling into the driveway of 1355 Westwind Road, outside an alcohol and rehab center where she worked near Jones and Charleston boulevards, when she was approached by two females who said they needed help, according to Metro Police.

The females told police they had been riding with three male suspects in a white, two-door car, according to a police report.

One of the female witnesses told police the males were supposed to be giving the pair a ride to her dad's apartment but were just driving around instead, the report said.

The females told police they got out of the car and realized at least one suspect had a gun, police said.

That's when the girls fled and hid in a yard before approaching Cassidy and asking for her help, according to the report.

One of the females was able to call her dad from Cassidy's cellphone before the suspects' car pulled up, and one suspect opened fire, police said.

Cassidy was struck and the two females fled, looking for help, police said. Cassidy was later transported to University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

With the public's help and the release of video taken by one of the females, police found a Facebook page belonging to Brown's mother.

On April 22, she took Brown to the police station to surrender, according to the report.

Police say Brown's mother told them she dropped her son off at Bonanza High School on April 16, but he didn't go to class. She said he ran away, but she found him April 20 and took him home, police said.

Brown is scheduled for an arraignment Aug. 24.

Michael De Angelo Scott, 21, was booked May 17 into the Clark County Detention Center in connection with the case. He faces charges including murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, and a jury trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 2.