California killing cited in Vegas-area bikers shooting case

Jun 2, 2022, 5:16 AM | Updated: 6:18 pm
Richard Devries, 66, makes his initial court appearances in Henderson Justice Court Thursday, June ...

Richard Devries, 66, makes his initial court appearances in Henderson Justice Court Thursday, June 2, 2022, in Henderson, Nev. He is a suspect in a shooting between Hells Angels and rival Vagos bikers on Sunday on U.S. Highway 95 according to police. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

(K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

              Russell Smith, 26, makes his initial court appearances in Henderson Justice Court Thursday, June 2, 2022, in Henderson, Nev. He is a suspect in a shooting between Hells Angels and rival Vagos bikers on Sunday on U.S. Highway 95 according to police. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
            
              Stephen Alo, 46, left, and Russell Smith, 26, make initial court appearances in Henderson Justice Court Thursday, June 2, 2022, in Henderson, Nev. They are suspects in a shooting between Hells Angels and rival Vagos bikers on Sunday on U.S. Highway 95 according to police. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
            
              Richard Devries, 66, makes his initial court appearances in Henderson Justice Court Thursday, June 2, 2022, in Henderson, Nev. He is a suspect in a shooting between Hells Angels and rival Vagos bikers on Sunday on U.S. Highway 95 according to police. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center photo shows Russell Smith following his arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Smith is an associate of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Authorities say at least seven people were wounded or injured, including at least six members of the rival Vagos motorcycle club, in the Sunday, May 29, 2022, shooting on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center photo shows Russell Smith following his arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Smith is an associate of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Authorities say at least seven people were wounded or injured, including at least six members of the rival Vagos motorcycle club, in the Sunday, May 29, 2022, shooting on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center photo shows Stephen Alo following his arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Alo is an associate of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Authorities say at least seven people were wounded or injured, including at least six members of the rival Vagos motorcycle club, in the Sunday, May 29, 2022, shooting on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center photo shows Stephen Alo following his arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Alo is an associate of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Authorities say at least seven people were wounded or injured, including at least six members of the rival Vagos motorcycle club, in the Sunday, May 29, 2022, shooting on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center photo shows Richard John Devries following his arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Devries is president of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Authorities say at least seven people were wounded or injured, including at least six members of the rival Vagos motorcycle club in the Sunday, May 29, 2022, shooting on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center photo shows Richard John Devries following his arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Devries is president of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Authorities say at least seven people were wounded or injured, including at least six members of the rival Vagos motorcycle club in the Sunday, May 29, 2022, shooting on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)
            
              This Henderson Detention Center combination photo, shows suspects from left, Richard John Devries, Russell Smith, center, and Stephen Alo, right, following their arrest and booking on Monday, May 30, 2022, on felony attempted murder, battery and weapon charges in a shooting on a Las Vegas-area freeway. Police say Devries is president of the Las Vegas charter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club and that Smith and Alo are associates of the motorcycle club. (Henderson Police Department via AP)

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — A shooting that authorities say involved rival Hells Angels and Vagos motorcycle gang members on a Las Vegas-area freeway may have been retaliation for the killing of a man several weeks ago in Southern California, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Danielle Pieper Chio, a chief deputy Clark County district attorney, revealed the possible link during the arraignment in suburban Henderson of three alleged Hells Angels members in the Memorial Day weekend shooting. Police say one is the Las Vegas chapter president and the other two were Hells Angels recruits.

Outside court, Pieper Chio cited the April 23 shooting death of James Vincent Dickson, 32, during a heavy metal concert at a bar in the California city of San Bernardino. News reports said four other people were wounded, including a member of the band that was playing at the time. Pieper Chio said Dickson was a Hells Angels member.

“The allegation is that Vagos hit a Hells Angels member (in San Bernardino),” the prosecutor said, “and that makes this possibly a retaliatory shooting.”

San Bernardino police, including detectives assigned to Dickson’s slaying, declined Thursday to comment about their investigation and the possible link between Dickson’s death and the gunfire near Las Vegas. No arrests have been reported in the San Bernardino case.

Henderson police said six Vagos members were wounded and Pieper Chio said a seventh person who showed up at a hospital with gunshot wounds attributed to the mid-day Sunday shooting was a Hells Angels member.

Pieper Chio did not say whether that man’s wounds were inflicted by Vagos members. No Vagos members have been charged with a crime in the shooting.

Richard John Devries, 66, and club recruits Russell Smith, 46, and Stephen Alo, 26, were arraigned Thursday on multiple attempted murder, conspiracy, battery and weapon charges that could get them decades in prison.

Henderson Justice of the Peace David Gibson kept bail for each man at $380,000 pending another court appearance June 14.

In court, Pieper Chio cited retaliation as a possible motive and said the Vagos members were riding motorcycles back to Las Vegas after stops at the Hoover Dam, in Arizona, and at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

A person police identified as an anonymous witness provided video showing three men wearing Hells Angels attire riding up to the Vagos members before shots were fired, according to police reports.

Pieper Chio said more than a dozen shots were fired on U.S. 95 in Henderson, and stray bullets struck a nearby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building and a parked vehicle. Police said spent bullet casings were found strewn for more than a mile (1.6 kilometer) along the freeway.

Devries’ attorney, Richard Schonfeld, declined outside court to confirm whether his client leads the Hells Angels in Las Vegas. Schonfeld told the judge that Devries is a military veteran with no criminal record, and there was no evidence that he fired a weapon. The attorney said he intends to file documents seeking to reduce Devries’ bail to an amount he can post.

Defense attorney Thomas Pitaro, representing Smith and Alo, also sought lower bail, saying he doubted they could raise $380,000.

Gibson cited the stray shots and said he felt the three defendants posed a danger to the community.

“I am fearful that something is going to happen,” the judge said, noting the gunfire took place “on a freeway I take, in a neighborhood that I live.”

Henderson police on Thursday issued a public request for witnesses to the shooting to contact investigators.

Schonfeld and Pitaro have represented Hells Angels members in previous cases in Las Vegas including state and federal criminal cases stemming from a deadly casino brawl with rival Mongols motorcycle gang members at a Laughlin casino during a biker rally in April 2002.

Vagos members also have faced federal prosecution in Nevada in recent years, but the group avoided being branded as an international criminal enterprise following the killing of a rival Hells Angels leader in a 2011 casino shootout in the northern Nevada city of Sparks.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

File - People shop at an Apple store in the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jerse...
Associated Press

A key inflation gauge tracked by the Fed slowed in February

The Federal Reserve's favored inflation gauge slowed sharply last month, an encouraging sign in the Fed's yearlong effort to cool price pressures through steadily higher interest rates.
2 days ago
FILE - The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output fr...
Associated Press

Musk, scientists call for halt to AI race sparked by ChatGPT

Are tech companies moving too fast in rolling out powerful artificial intelligence technology that could one day outsmart humans?
3 days ago
starbucks...
Associated Press

Starbucks leader grilled by Senate over anti-union actions

Longtime Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz faced sharp questioning Wednesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
4 days ago
FILE - The overdose-reversal drug Narcan is displayed during training for employees of the Public H...
Associated Press

FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan; here’s what it means

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling naloxone without a prescription, the first over-the-counter opioid treatment.
4 days ago
FILE - A Seattle police officer walks past tents used by people experiencing homelessness, March 11...
Associated Press

Seattle, feds seek to end most oversight of city’s police

  SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department and Seattle officials asked a judge Tuesday to end most federal oversight of the city’s police department, saying its sustained, decade-long reform efforts are a model for other cities whose law enforcement agencies face federal civil rights investigations. Seattle has overhauled virtually all aspects of its police […]
5 days ago
capital gains tax budgets...
Associated Press

Washington moves to end child sex abuse lawsuit time limits

People who were sexually abused as children in Washington state may soon be able to bring lawsuits against the state, schools or other institutions for failing to stop the abuse, no matter when it happened.
5 days ago

Sponsored Articles

Compassion International...

Brock Huard and Friends Rally Around The Fight for First Campaign

Professional athletes are teaming up to prevent infant mortality and empower women at risk in communities facing severe poverty.
Emergency Preparedness...

Prepare for the next disaster at the Emergency Preparedness Conference

Being prepared before the next emergency arrives is key to preserving businesses and organizations of many kinds.
SHIBA volunteer...

Volunteer to help people understand their Medicare options!

If you’re retired or getting ready to retire and looking for new ways to stay active, becoming a SHIBA volunteer could be for you!
safety from crime...

As crime increases, our safety measures must too

It's easy to be accused of fearmongering regarding crime, but Seattle residents might have good reason to be concerned for their safety.
Comcast Ready for Business Fund...
Ilona Lohrey | President and CEO, GSBA

GSBA is closing the disparity gap with Ready for Business Fund

GSBA, Comcast, and other partners are working to address disparities in access to financial resources with the Ready for Business fund.
SHIBA WA...

Medicare open enrollment is here and SHIBA can help!

The SHIBA program – part of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner – is ready to help with your Medicare open enrollment decisions.
California killing cited in Vegas-area bikers shooting case