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CNN Saturday Morning News

Police Say 'Rival Gangs' Responsible for Shooting in Nevada

Aired April 27, 2002 - 09:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on that deadly shooting at the Harris Casino south of Las Vegas.

We're going to begin with a representative from the fire department in Bullhead City, Larry Tunforss, on the phone with us again.

Larry, what can you tell us?

LARRY TUNFORSS, BULLHEAD CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good morning, Kyra.

The latest update is, we actually ended up with a total of 11 victims of gunshots. One was flown from the Harris Casino to a trauma ward in Las Vegas, and that was shortly after 2:30 our time. And six were transported by our fire department, the Bullhead City Fire Department, over to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center, which is in Bullhead City, four by American Medical Rescue units that were transported over there.

Once the 10 got to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center, one of them was airlifted immediately to Las Vegas, and two, which were identified as the two shooters from rival gangs, one of which had four gunshots to him, those two were then shortly there later airlifted to Las Vegas.

And since then they have airlifted a fourth patient from the hospital. They currently have one in surgery and one in ICU. The balance are being evaluated if they should be treated and released, or if they need to be kept at the hospital.

PHILLIPS: All right, so Larry, you say the two shooters are still alive, then, at this time.

TUNFORSS: At this time.

PHILLIPS: Have -- were they shot at by police?

TUNFORSS: No, they -- I think they were shooting at each other.

PHILLIPS: OK. And you say rival gangs, are we talking about the Hell's Angels? That there's been talk about that.

TUNFORSS: I have no idea who belongs to who. All I was told was they were rival gangs.

PHILLIPS: What's the scene at the -- you -- first it was Harris that was shut down, now you were saying the entire city is being closed down, all the casinos?

TUNFORSS: It pretty much is. In fact, I just heard some radio traffic saying the only people they're allowing to go to Laughlin are security guards with identification. Everybody else is being told to sit tight. They're not even going to let them go to work right now.

With nine casinos and with 50,000 to 70,000 or 80,000 motorcycle enthusiasts, this is a major tactical incident for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, so they're doing the best they can to keep a grip on it.

PHILLIPS: Is this a normal gang hangout, Larry?

TUNFORSS: No, it really is not. This is a vacation spot, and this time of year it's an annual Harley run, where motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the nation will show up here with their Harleys. Some of them ride them as far as New York, some of them will trailer them in. The majority of them come here to have a good time. They come to gamble, they come to have fun. They had come to see their friends.

But unfortunately, when you get that many people, you're going to get the criminal element with them too.

PHILLIPS: Yes, Larry Tunforss, thanks so much for checking in with us throughout the morning. We sure appreciate it.

We're going to turn it over now to another phone call that we have, this time it's Mark Martinez of CNN affiliate KNTV out of Las Vegas.

Mark, can you update us on the investigation that's taking place? Is there anything you can tell us that Larry didn't?

MARK MARTINEZ, KNTV REPORTER: Yes, I can, Kyra, and that is that at this point, we are told at least 100 people have been taken into custody for questioning in connection with the shooting that happened about -- between 2:00 and 2:30 this morning Pacific Standard Time on the casino level, it's inside of Harris.

We can also tell you that the SWAT team is right now going through that hotel, which is a pretty large hotel, searching all of the rooms, searching elevator shafts, searching the hallways, basically looking for anyone else who might be connected with this shooting.

And I can also mention that, as Larry said, the city is shut down at this point. They are not letting anyone in or out of Laughlin, which is a small gambling town about an hour and a half southeast of Las Vegas.

We tried to get in to get some video of the hotel, and we were turned away. They're only letting anyone in who has security badges, only security personnel allowed inside. The city is really locked down at this point.

And it looks like it will be for quite a while. Again, it's a very large investigation. You've got a lot of people here in town, and it's tough for the police to try to track down exactly who may have been connected with the shooting. But we are being told from official police sources that this was a gang-related shooting between a Hell's Angels motorcycle group and another group that we are told is called the Mongrels, although we don't have much information on that motorcycle group.

PHILLIPS: So Mark, has this been a sort of a popular hangout? Larry Tunforss said no. But do you see a lot of the Hell's Angels and other motorcycle groups hanging out in this area? Is this a normal thing?

MARTINEZ: Well, they come down here usually around this time of year. This is the 20th annual Laughlin Riverrun. And they're expecting, as he mentioned, about 80,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to come down here this year. And it's not -- I wouldn't call it a regular hangout for these types of motorcycle gangs, the ones that may have been involved in the shooting, but they certainly do come down here for the Laughlin Riverrun every summertime.

It's a very popular event, and again, you get people who come down here just for fun, and then of course you're going to get your troublemakers. But we've never seen anything of this magnitude.

But the police do expect some trouble every year, and that's why they do respond in force. They are down here with a lot of backup during this Riverrun, because when this town suddenly has 80,000 people coming in from all over the place, they do expect some problems, although they didn't expect anything like this.

But they were able to respond pretty quickly, because they were prepared.

PHILLIPS: Mark, before we let you go, any word on when the casinos in the area will open back up?

MARTINEZ: No, that's a good question, and we're not sure. Again, the city locked down at this point, and we're not sure what the status of the Riverrun is either. If -- it was supposed to continue on through the weekend.

Obviously things are pretty crazy around here right now. There are police everywhere. And the event itself probably will not go on as scheduled, although we can't say that for sure. It is still early in the morning out here, it's 6:00 -- just a little bit after 6:00 a.m.

And again, about four hours ago was when the shooting happened, so they're still trying to piece this all together. And it looks like the shooters may be in custody, but they are right now tracking down to see if anybody else had anything to do with this shooting. But at this point, it's anyone's guess as to when this investigation may get wrapped up and when the city may actually reopen.

Again, at this point, no one being allowed in, no one being allowed out.

PHILLIPS: Mark Martinez, CNN affiliate KNTV out of Las Vegas, reporting on the situation in Laughlin, Nevada. Thank you so much, Mark.

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