Neighbors fear for safety after robbery

Uneasiness has crept into homes on Covered Wells Avenue. One resident is thinking about buying a gun to protect his family; another isn't sure if the "welcome" mat on her doorstep is merely inviting danger her way.

Provoking their new-found fears is the reality that crime has reached their almost brand-new neighborhood on the southern fringes of the city -- a community where carefree kids play in their front yards and adults appreciate the serenity.

An ongoing Metro Police investigation into Wednesday's early morning home invasion robbery at 2469 Covered Wells Ave. has determined that the victims -- a household of four renters beaten, bound and briefly held hostage at about 3:30 a.m. -- were apparently targeted because of drugs and at least one gun authorities found at their house.

"It's scary for my children. It makes me concerned," said Miguel Moreno, who lives several houses away in the Park Pacific development off Las Vegas Boulevard South and Richmar Avenue, south of Blue Diamond Road.

"This neighborhood is all young children and families. Now we're going to be watching things more closely."

Two of three suspects wanted in connection with the home invasion robbery were in custody this morning. Alejandro Gutierrez, 19, and a 21-year-old male are being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail on two counts of robbery with a weapon, one count of burglary with a weapon and four counts of first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon. Their court dates are pending.

A third suspect remained at large today. Police have yet to release the man's identity or a description.

Investigators late Wednesday were anticipating that at least a few of the home invasion victims -- three men and a woman -- would be facing drug charges for an unspecified amount of marijuana police said they found inside the home.

A few of the residents were reportedly asleep when the suspects knocked on the front door.

"The suspects identified themselves using a name the victims were familiar with," Lt. John Alamshaw said. "The suspects tried to enter the home with the sole intention of taking narcotics and weapons from the residence."

The residents were bound with duct tape and some of them were struck with a shotgun, he said. At some point, one of the victims dialed 911 and left the line open, allowing police to hear what was transpiring inside the home.

A patrol unit arrived in time to see a man running from the home with a small safe under his arm, police said. Officers were arresting the man, later identified as Gutierrez, when a man with a shotgun bolted out the front door and then retreated when he saw police.

The gunman and a third suspect eluded police, slipping out a back door and fleeing the neighborhood in a new white Dodge pickup, Alamshaw said.

Information from the victims, however, had police confident the gunman was still inside. SWAT, K-9 and negotiators responded about 45 minutes later when police could get no answer to their pleas for the gunman to come out.

When negotiators could get no response on the telephone or bull horn, SWAT pounded the house with more than 35 rounds of gas and noise bombs. The rounds shattered windows, some of them leaving behind tell-tale red stains on walls and window frames.

SWAT next made a slow, methodical search of each room and the attic only to confirm that the suspect was gone. Police did, however, find evidence that drugs had been flushed down the toilet, Alamshaw said.

The small safe Gutierrez allegedly dropped on his way out of the house contained a scale, a box of plastic baggies, and what appeared to be marijuana, both loose and in see-through packages, police said.

Police said a similar fortified box near the front door contained a 9mm Ruger handgun and two fully loaded clips.

The getaway truck was found later that morning near LJ's bar off Flamingo Road and Arville Street where Giel was reported to have been taken into custody.

"The shotgun was on the seat in plain view," said Metro spokesman Lt. Rick Alba.

Neighbors were held in suspense throughout the nine-hour incident. Many of them, like the Fosters across the street, had a bird's eye view.

"I was watching a movie when I heard people yelling," said Charles Foster, 16. "The window was closed and the air conditioning was on, so it was pretty loud."

He looked out the window in time to see police with their guns drawn and the first suspect face down on the driveway.

Police would later direct them to get to the back of their house, and a short time later, two SWAT officers took over an upstairs bedroom trying to gain a vantage point of the house across the street.

While unnerving to have police in their home and hearing that drugs, guns and violence were just a stone's throw from their front door, the Fosters took it in stride.

Stephen Foster, Charles' father remarked:

"Hopefully it will be the only exciting thing that happens around here."

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