Bail set at $2 million for suspect in Strip sidewalk gun case

By Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 | 1:51 p.m.

A man accused of brandishing an unloaded handgun and feigning shots at traffic and tourists on the Las Vegas Strip was brought masked and restrained in a wheelchair to court on Wednesday, where a judge set bail at $2 million.

Kahleal Black, 20, of Las Vegas, sat flanked by court guards and moaned constantly through his brief initial court appearance on multiple felony charges including assault with a deadly weapon, weapon possession and resisting a police officer.

"It's clear that the defendant will continue to present a danger to the community," said Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen, who appointed the Clark County public defender's office to Black's case and set a Feb. 3 status hearing.

"Mr. Black, you're lucky to be alive today," the judge told the moaning man. "We're lucky that there were not more victims in this case and more dead victims."

Two bystanders were grazed by a police officer's gunfire in the Friday evening shooting during a musical fountain show at the Bellagio resort.

Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said it appeared that Black will need a mental health evaluation.

Deputy public defender Chris Peterson declined immediate comment.

Police said Kahleal Black waved a snub-nosed .38-caliber revolver amid the spectators and motorists on the busiest part of the Strip before Officer George Smith arrived, stepped toward Black, ordered him to surrender, and fired two shots when he didn't comply.

A married couple and a family of three each later told police that they heard several clicks of the trigger as Black pointed the gun at them on the sidewalk, according to a police report made part of the court record.

Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told the media on Tuesday that Black fell to the ground and after Smith fired shots, and was arrested. He later became combative and fought with jail guards while in custody.

A ricochet from one of the officer's shots left a welt on the leg of a 4-year-old boy from California, McMahill said. Another ripped a hole in clothing worn by a homeless man sitting nearly 100 yards away.

Neither was seriously hurt.

Black's older brothers, Diamond Black and Elliott Black, were in the courtroom Wednesday. They said later their brother had been treated for schizophrenia at the state's Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas, but recently stopped taking his medication.

The revolver had been reported stolen in December after a break-in at a Las Vegas home where McMahill said a hole was cut through a wall to get around a steel door, and about 35 weapons were taken.

Diamond Black said he had no idea where his brother got the gun, but said he was sure Kahleal Black wasn't involved in the home break-in.

"That sounds like something out of a movie," the older brother said.

Diamond Black said his brother had several mental health evaluations during the last year, and was arrested in January 2015 after he was accused of causing a disturbance on the Strip.

Kahleal Black was also named in a police missing person report for several weeks, but returned home in February.

Diamond Black said he was glad his brother wasn't shot and killed on Friday. He said he can't raise $2 million bail.

"Don't charge him like a criminal," the brother said. "Charge him like he's mentally ill. I just want to see him get helped out."