Two in custody on murder charges

Two men are in custody today after what police described as a gang-related slaying of an 18-year-old man at a southwest valley apartment complex plagued with violence and drug deals.

A Metro Police K-9 dog was attacked by a neighborhood pitbull, but apparently not injured, during the pursuit late Thursday night to find the killer.

Ruben Paul Perez, 22, and Michael Gassett, 38, remained in Clark County Detention Center this morning where they were booked for the murder of Alejandro Nievez.

Their court dates are pending.

A Metro patrol officer was in the south alley of the 4000 block of Silver Dollar Ave. on a pedestrian stop at 9:56 p.m. when he heard gunfire coming from the area of Silver Dollar and Wing Street.

Homicide Lt. Wayne Peterson said the officer called for backup while running toward the shots, arriving in the Greenville Park apartment complex to see several flashes from the gunfire.

The gunman, described as 5 feet 6 with a shaved head, took off running west through the complex with the officer in pursuit, Petersen said.

Minutes later, another officer in a car stopped a pickup truck at the entrance to the complex and arrested the driver, later identified as Gassett.

"We know he (Gassett) drove (Perez) to the scene," said Peterson.

Two K-9 dogs tracked the suspected gunman into a neighborhood about three blocks west of the Greenville Park complex.

One of the K-9 dogs named Rudy, a Belgian Malinois, caught up to the suspect, but was attacked by a pitbull after jumping a wall into a backyard, said Metro spokesman Lt. Rick Alba. The police log of the call indicated this morning that Rudy was not injured.

The suspect was able to get away during the dog attack.

Matjo, a second police dog, stayed on his trail and eventually found Perez hiding in some shrubbery at a home in a quiet neighborhood at Aladdin Lane and King Midas Way where lawmen arrested him shortly after 11 p.m.

Officers said Perez, clad only in shorts, offered no resistance.

Witnesses said at least seven shots were fired during the bloody attack.

One resident of the complex, who asked not to be identified, said she ran outside after hearing the gunfire and saw the victim dressed in baggy khaki pants and a white T-shirt lying on a lawn taking his last breath.

"He was turning blue," she said.

She said she saw only one bullet hole in the teenager -- that one was in his heart.

"There wasn't much blood," she said, "just a clean hole right through the heart."

Residents of the apartment complex say violence is getting out of control in their area.

A body was found in a trash bin at the site six weeks ago. The bin is about 100 yards from where Thursday night's fatal shooting occurred.

One resident said three weeks ago a fire bomb was mistakenly thrown into the apartment of an elderly woman. The bombers mistakenly thought a rival drug laboratory was in the apartment.

Burglaries, car thefts and other crimes are a matter of routine, say residents.

Peterson said the information investigators have indicates Thursday night's shooting was gang-related.

"It probably is related to a shooting that took place here last weekend," Peterson said.

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