Las Vegas teen charged in slaying of his father

An argument over a dirty kitchen escalated into gunfire that left a 62-year-old Las Vegas man dead and his 15-year-old son charged with the slaying, Metro Police said today.

Conan Pope was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and will be charged as an adult, police said of the 6:15 p.m. shooting Thursday in a south Las Vegas neighborhood.

After the incident, the boy ran to a friend's house where he told his friend, "I just shot my father," Metro Police homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

Pope shared a home with his 16-year-old sister and their father at 163 Muddy Creek Ave., off Serene Avenue east of Las Vegas Boulevard South.

The name of the dead man was being withheld by the Clark County coroner's office today pending a positive identification. Despite the children telling police that it was their father who was shot, the coroner is required to medically verify who the victim is before releasing a name.

The Hill-Donnelly cross-reference phone directory and Sprint phone book list a Frank E. Pope as the resident of the home.

"The 15-year-old ran from his house east through a desert area where he dropped the rifle on the way to a nearby friend's house," Petersen said. "He was arrested at the friend's house and charged with murder with a deadly weapon.

"The boy and girl were home and then the father got home from work and a domestic situation ensued," Petersen said, noting he did not know what the man did for a living. "At some point the son got a rifle and shot the father."

Petersen said today that the dispute started when the father yelled at the children after he discovered that the kitchen had not been cleaned and that the dishes had not been washed.

The father was shot at least once before Pope went to his friend's home. The mother of Pope's friend called police when she learned of the shooting, Petersen said.

Petersen did not know where in the house the father had been shot or if there was any history of domestic problems at the home. He said the daughter, however, told investigators that police had not been out to the house before for domestic matters.

The daughter, whose name was not released because she is a minor, was not hurt in the shooting and was in another room when it occurred, Petersen said. Because she had no other relatives in Clark County, the girl was taken to Child Haven.

A Metro K-9 unit and helicopter were used to search the desert area, eventually locating the rifle.

Domestic violence can take many forms, Petersen said of the shooting.

"The common perception is that domestic violence is only husband and wife or boyfriend-girlfriend," Petersen said. "Many times it's parent-child or child-parent."

Sun reporter Ed Koch contributed to this report.

archive