One killed, one injured in separate shootings

Metro Police detectives were searching this morning for suspects in two apparently unrelated gang shootings in West Las Vegas Wednesday that left a 33-year-old man dead and a school bus driver in the hospital.

Rogerio M. Pichardo was shot about 10 p.m. in the 1900 block of Cindysue Street, near Rancho Drive and Holly Lane, and died about an hour later at University Medical Center.

A man in his late teens or early 20s was seen running from the scene, but police this morning had made no arrests.

In an unrelated shooting, 53-year-old school bus driver Henry Allen and a woman were injured about 3 p.m. Wednesday when they were caught in the cross fire of a shootout between two members of the same gang, police said.

Police responded to the 1900 block of H Street near Doolittle Avenue and found a Clark County School District bus driver shot in the side under his arm. He was listed in fair condition this morning at University Medical Center. A bullet had passed through the driver's side windshield just below and to the left of the steering column.

Allen was waiting on H Street to pick up disabled and special needs children from nearby Kelly Elementary School, 1900 J St., when the shooting occurred, Sgt. Dan Stansbury said.

"There was some kind of argument between two members of the same gang," Stansbury said. "One drove home to get a flak jacket and a gun, and when he got back the shooting started."

Allen D. Boyd, 32, was arrested about a block from the shooting wearing a bullet-resistant vest. Detectives are searching for Charles Fields, 24, for questioning in connection with the shooting.

After Boyd was arrested and placed inside a police car, he kicked out one of the car's windows. Police officers then sprayed him with pepper spray.

Witnesses in the area estimated that they heard between 20 and 30 shots during the incident.

"We know that several shots were fired in at least three different parts of this block of H near Doolittle," Lt. Karen Hoye said.

A woman driving with her 2-year-old daughter in a Toyota 4-Runner was headed north on H Street during the shootout, and a bullet flew through her windshield and blew out her rear window. The woman was injured by shards of glass, and she drove to the nearby Nucleus Plaza strip mall at H Street and Owens Avenue to wait for police assistance.

The bus driver and the woman were taken to UMC, where the woman was treated and released. The driver remains in fair condition after emergency surgery. The 2-year-old child was not injured.

In the wake of the shooting of the bus driver, School Board member Lois Tarkanian said the school district may have to work more closely with police and consider other safety measures to prevent such incidents.

"I think we have to work with Metro and other government entities to try to make the area safer," Tarkanian said. "Especially in areas where there is gang activity, a strong police presence really acts as a deterrent.

"This is the first shooting of a schoolbus driver I've ever heard of here (in the school district). But if this became prevalent, the board might look into things like bulletproof glass and other safety measures," she said. "I would hope that we would never get to the point here where we would need armed guards on buses."

Sun reporter

Valerie Miller contributed to this report.

archive