Vegas shooting suspect arrested in Los Angeles

February 28, 2013 @ 7:22 pm

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A self-described pimp was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles, ending a weeklong manhunt that began after a shooting and spectacular, fiery crash that killed three people on the Las Vegas Strip, police said.

Ammar Harris, 26, surrendered to a fugitive apprehension team of police and FBI agents who found him a little after noon inside a Studio City apartment where a woman answered the door, authorities said.

"This arrest is much more (than) taking Ammar Harris into custody," Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said in Las Vegas. "I hope anyone out there watching understands clearly if you live in this city, if you work in this city, or you visit this city and act like this person, we will find you, we will prosecute you, and we will send you to prison."

Harris, whose Internet posts show him with fists full of money boasting of a high-rolling lifestyle with prostitutes, was booked into a Los Angeles jail pending an extradition hearing Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

His arrest ended an intense multi-state search that began after the Feb. 21 attack at a neon-lit intersection home to posh casino resorts such as Bellagio, Bally's, Flamingo and Caesars Palace.

Court documents allege Harris was driving his black Range Rover SUV when he fired into a Maserati sports car, killing self-promoted rapper Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. The two men had argued minutes earlier in the valet area of a Las Vegas Strip resort, authorities said.

The Maserati, with Cherry mortally wounded at the wheel, sped forward and slammed into a taxi that burst into flames. The 62-year-old cabbie, Michael Boldon, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash., were killed.

In all, six cars were involved in the crash, and five other people were injured. None of those injuries was life-threatening, authorities said.

A passenger in the Maserati, identified in court documents as Freddy Walters, was wounded in the arm. Police said he cooperated with investigators after the crash. Attempts to reach him Thursday were not immediately successful.

The crash closed the Strip for about 15 hours while police investigated. Two days later, police located the SUV parked two blocks east of the crash scene at an apartment complex where Harris rented a unit. Harris wasn't there.

Lt. Ray Steiber, who headed the investigation, said Thursday that investigators learned that Harris fled Las Vegas "pretty rapidly" after the shooting and fiery crash. Detectives fielded "hundreds and hundreds" of tips in the following days.

Investigators reviewed casino surveillance images of a disagreement with Cherry at the valet area at the Aria resort, collected bullet casings and listened to audio recordings from nearby taxis of the sound of five gunshots on the Strip, and obtained traffic camera video of the Maserati speeding through the Las Vegas Boulevard intersection at Flamingo Road.

Prosecutors obtained a warrant the day after the shooting for Harris' arrest on three murder, one attempted murder and several shooting charges. Authorities obtained a federal warrant Monday enabling the FBI to join the search in other states.

Earlier Thursday, Las Vegas police revealed they had found and talked with all three women who were in the SUV with Harris during the shooting _ including Tineesha Lashun Howard, a woman police had identified Tuesday as a "person of interest" who might be in danger.

Las Vegas police also sought to stop the circulation of several photos the department issued during their search for Harris. Police said they depicted people not connected with the case.

Police wouldn't release the names of the other female passengers in the SUV. Capt. Chris Jones said none of the three women had been charged with a crime. Police were concerned about their safety, he said.

Howard, a 22-year-old from Miami with a history of prostitution arrests who also uses the names Yenesis Alfonzo or Yani, was found late Wednesday, several hours after boarding a bus in Los Angeles. Police have not identified the city where she was found.

Steiber called the discovery that Howard left Los Angeles "one of the factors" that led investigators to find Harris in Studio City.

Police later searched the Studio City apartment, and Steiber noted that the investigation was not finished.

"We have captured Ammar Harris," the police lieutenant said. "This is an open and ongoing investigation. This is not closed."

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Thursday that anyone who helped Harris elude police for a week could still face criminal charges.

Harris was arrested last year in Las Vegas in a 2010 prostitution case using the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris. He was charged with robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon, and police sought charges of pandering by force and felon in possession of concealed weapon. Court records show that case was dismissed last June.

Harris was convicted in South Carolina in 2004 of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol and convicted that same year in Atlanta of a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

___

Associated Press writer Tami Abdollah in Los Angeles contributed to this report.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (16)


  • Add A Comment

  • hpitantso wrote...
    Debbie Tvedt
    February 22, 2013 11:29 pm
    Debbie Tvedt if she only knew she was riding in a bomb, it's one thing thugs shooting each other. The new concern is why cab blew up like a bomb, what was the speed, many in use them 24/7. have to feel for her and cab driver family if were not shot.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • po_guy wrote...
    Another rapper down
    February 23, 2013 7:57 am
    As much as I detest rap, I would not care if they all disapeared suddenly.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 206man wrote...
    YOUR CRAZY
    February 23, 2013 10:36 am
    THATS WRONG OF YOU TO SAY THE POINT IS THAT SOMEONE DIED YOU RUDE PUNK!! THATS ALLYOU PEOPLE ARE ON HERE ARE RUDE PEOPLE WHO REALLY STAY AT HOME AND PROBABLY LIVE OFF THE GOVERNMENT THATS WRONF OF ALL OF YOU TO SAY AND YOU GUYS ARE RASCITS LIKE W T F MAN!! THAT AINT COOL AT ALL
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    206man
    February 23, 2013 10:03 pm
    Judging from your stunningly incompetent, pathetic and laugh-out-loud intellectually challenged post, You've proven to the world that you're just as stupid as most of the loser gangsta rap idiots. With any luck, maybe you'll be the next Tupac or Biggy and the world will be a better place...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Hey 206man, grow a brain
    February 23, 2013 7:47 pm
    and then F.-off. And then learn how to use the CAPS lock button like an educated person. Peace out bee.otch...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • deltta wrote...
    other than age, gender and tats
    February 23, 2013 9:59 pm
    Is there anything else that describes the suspect? Or are we to assume he's white?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    @206man
    February 23, 2013 10:30 pm
    Everyone that I have ever known that has said stuff like that and used ALL CAPS has been a loser.Enough said.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cg5611 wrote...
    tragic
    February 24, 2013 6:45 am
    but apparently nothing more than a road rage incident. The article states there was an arguement at the Aria a block away. Until the police release more information on the driver of the Black Range Rover (like why these vehicles had no license plates) other than his name and criminal back ground we won't know if it was planned or not. I'm just glad to hear the cops have a suspect. To the ignorant folks who post racist remarks; that continued behavior adds to the problem and solves nothing. Take the advice of Mark Twain, cause opening yours mouth's justs proves your ignorance.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dexterjibs wrote...
    his father says he was not a gangsta
    February 24, 2013 8:38 am
    but his son drove a Maserati, has high cell phone bills and father didn't kow how his son made his money.....Let me clue you in father-your son was most liely a gangsta which is why a gangsta show his bee otch arse up.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    I haven't seen anything from Owebama and the liftists on this;
    February 24, 2013 10:13 am
    I must be missing it. I'm sure Barry and the DimoRats are just eager as heck to get out there and say what a tragedy this is and that it' just another example of crazy RW gun nuts, probably all white, that caused this...oh....wait....never mind.....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cg5611 wrote...
    the quote
    February 24, 2013 11:10 am
    "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to opit and remove all doubt" Mark Twain
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Tyrone DeVille wrote...
    There Were Baketballs Scattered Everywhere!
    February 24, 2013 2:55 pm
    A trail led to da brothers arrest!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }