Boy, 14, agrees to plea bargain in shooting of two teens

Although only 14 years old, Tony Tejada is going to have an adult felony conviction on his record, and there is a chance he may be going to an adult prison.

The Las Vegas boy involved on the periphery of the Oct. 11 shooting of two teenagers at Clark High School has agreed to a plea bargain in an earlier shooting where he is alleged to have been a participant.

Tejada waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday in the first step of the deal. He will be required to plead guilty to a single count of attempted murder in the Oct. 2 gang-related shooting of a boy and girl, both 16, through the front window of the boy's home.

Tejada had been charged with two counts of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon and could have faced a sentence of eight to 80 years had he been convicted. The plea bargain will limit the potential sentence to two to 20 years, with probation a possibility.

Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said the teenager has agreed to testify against Maynor Villanueva, 18, in both shooting incidents. Kane said no charges will be pursued against Tejada in the Clark High shooting, even in the juvenile system.

A Nov. 15 preliminary hearing is scheduled for Villanueva in the Clark High incident that left two boys with bullet wounds in their arms, and a Nov. 23 preliminary hearing is set in the earlier shooting.

Tejada's attorney, Gregory Denue, said he will be seeking probation for Tejada, who will be arraigned on Nov. 16 in District Judge John McGroarty's courtroom.

Denue said the teen's plight "is tragic and symptomatic of the society in which he lives."

He said the shootings were the result of a rift in a street gang to which the defendants and the male victims belonged.

One faction, Denue said, "felt the gang was not tough enough so they formed (their own gang) within the gang."

The rivals "resolved their disputes by shooting each other," Denue continued, noting that Tejada may have been targeted by the opposing faction.

He said that inside the house where the Oct. 2 shooting occurred, authorities found Tejada's street name, "Puppet," written in numerous places and then crossed out.

Tejada is being treated as an adult because under Nevada law a juvenile charged with attempted murder or murder is automatically certified as an adult. For lesser charges it takes a determination by the Juvenile Court judge to force a person under 18 to stand trial in adult court.

The shooting of the boy and girl on Magnolia Avenue left the boy with a bullet wound in his arm while the girl suffered a bullet wound in the back that required emergency surgery and the removal of her appendix.

Kane said the boy and his mother identified Villanueva in police photo lineups as one of the shooters and the mother picked out Tejada as a second suspect.

Both defendants had been in the boy's home and were known to his mother, the prosecutor said.

Villanueva is being held on more than $1 million in bail in the Clark High School shooting, and he could be sent to prison for life if he is convicted.

Under a new law that went into effect Oct. 1, attempting to kill someone on school property carries the same sentence as first-degree murder -- life with or without the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Kane has announced in court that he will seek the harshest penalty against Villanueva, who is also being held on a probation violation charge.

Villanueva's case is the first in the state that would qualify under the tough new anti-school violence law.

In addition to two counts of attempted murder on school property, Villanueva is charged with battery with a deadly weapon, possession of marijuana, possession of a stolen vehicle, robbery and aiming a firearm and possession of a firearm on school property.

The two Clark High School victims, one 15 and the other 16, were standing at the northeast corner of the Clark campus at 2:40 p.m. when the shots were fired.

Witnesses said there were about 50 people in the vicinity when the gunfire erupted and most scattered when they realized what was occurring at the school at 4291 Pennwood Avenue, near Arville Street and Sahara Avenue.

After the school shooting Villaneuva is alleged to have run with Tejada to a stolen car waiting in a nearby apartment complex, according to court documents.

But the car was wrecked as they attempted to drive off, and a bicycle was stolen at knife point to facilitate the escape, prosecutors allege.

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