Published Friday, Nov. 27, 2020 | 10:40 p.m.
Updated Friday, Nov. 27, 2020 | 11:12 p.m.
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The suspects arrested in random drive-by shooting attacks in Henderson — which left a 22-year-old man dead and four wounded — also spread terror along a rural Arizona highway by shooting at moving cars before authorities moved in and exchanged fire with one of them.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety captured Shawn McDonnell, 30, Christopher McDonell, 28, and Kayleigh Lewis, 25, following a string of shootings on an Arizona highway and a pursuit about 200 miles south of Las Vegas, officials said.
After the suspects’ vehicle crashed and ended up on its roof in La Paz County, a highway patrol sergeant and a trooper opened fire, hitting one of the suspects when one of them pointed a gun at an officer, officials said.
It wasn’t clear if all three were being sought here, but Henderson Police said Thursday that a man and a woman wanted in the shooting that left Kevin Mendiola Jr. dead were arrested in Arizona.
Police described the duo as having their faces covered in paint or tattoos. People in other parts of Henderson also reported being shot at about the same time, police said.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety said the three suspects were hospitalized. The older McDonnell was being treated for serious but survivable injuries; the other McDonnell and Lewis were hospitalized for minor injuries sustained in the crash.
Lewis was later released and booked into the La Paz County jail on unspecified allegations, officials said.
The La Paz County Sheriff’s Office couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
The terror in La Paz County began about 8:48 a.m. Arizona time, almost seven hours after Mendiola Jr., his brother and his girlfriend, and two other people were shot outside a Henderson convenience store near the 800 block of Lake Mead Parkway.
That’s about the time dispatchers began receiving calls about “suspects in a dark-colored car shooting at vehicles” on U.S. 95, near Parker, Ariz., officials said.
The car matched the description of the vehicle sought in connection with the shootings in Henderson, officials said.
A trooper driving on State Route 72 spotted the car, officials said. “As the trooper was closing in on the suspect vehicle, the vehicle drove off the roadway and rolled” near Bouse, Ariz., according to press releases.
The chase was over by 10 a.m., officials said.
Using a “high-risk stop” technique, the trooper and a sergeant demanded that the suspects exit the car, officials said. “One of the suspects presented a lethal threat to the sergeant by pointing a handgun at him. Fearing for their lives, both the sergeant and trooper discharged their service weapons,” officials said.
Investigators recovered several weapons, officials said.
It wasn’t clear which of the suspects was shot.
