Anti-racist groups plan rally in protest of two murders

Hundreds of anti-racists are expected to rally in the streets of Spring Valley on Saturday in memory of two local men authorities believe were murdered by racist skinheads.

Organizers have chosen the intersection of Torrey Pines Drive and Flamingo Road to stage the 5 p.m. event because of its proximity to homes where they claim several neo-Nazis live.

And it is neo-Nazi skinheads who friends and authorities believe were responsible for killing Daniel Shersty, 20, and Lin "Spit" Newborn, 25, nine weeks ago.

"It's the most plausible explanation," said Metro Police homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner.

Shersty and Newborn were well-known with local skinhead circles to be notably vocal about their desires to stomp out racism and, specifically, the evil perpetuated by a known white supremacist skinhead faction.

Shersty was white and Newborn was black. Both sported shaved heads, tattoos, and numerous body piercings, but it was their membership in the Unity Skins that has stirred suspicions of fascist skinhead foul play.

"It was a political assassination," John Toddy said days after the bodies were found. "They weren't just taken out in a random act. This was a planned assassination."

Toddy belongs to the local chapter of Anti-Racist Action, a nationwide organization with chapters in 120 cities that says it has 30,000 names on its newsletter mailing list.

ARA-Las Vegas formed in April and has since seen at least one of its members leave the area in fear he was next on the Nazis' "hit list," members say.

ARA members, who are hosting Saturday's rally, believe that Nazis lured Shersty and Newborn to a remote area in the northwest desert where they were fatally shot. A jogger found Shersty's body July 4 about 7:45 a.m. nearly a mile west of Lone Mountain Road. Police found Newborn's body July 6, about 150 yards away.

Hefner said the investigation has led them to believe that there may have been two killers involved in the attack. Metro, however, has not identified any suspects.

Police have yet to rule out the possibility that two girls were used as bait to get the victims into the killers' clutches. Newborn, who worked in a local body piercing and tattoo shop, had met two young women who'd come into the shop the day before he disappeared. On the night of July 3rd, the women -- believed to be in their late teens or early 20s -- called him at work about 9 p.m. and asked him and Shersty to go to a party with them, authorities said.

Newborn and Shersty are believed to have headed out to meet the women about midnight. They were never seen alive again, and authorities have been unable to track down the women.

ARA members from 10 states are expected to participate in Saturday's rally, which will see them march through the neighborhood streets in memory of Shersty and Newborn.

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