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Subscribe to RSSIn a scene witnesses describe as looking like a Hollywood set, a confrontation between a group of men escalated into a shooting, multiple vehicle pileup, and an exploding taxicab. The incident left three people dead. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
The driver of a Maserati that was shot up early Thursday morning on Las Vegas’ famed Strip, causing the vehicle to crash into a taxi cab and leading to a deadly explosion, was a 27-year-old aspiring rapper, according to his family.
Three people were killed and at least six injured as a result of the 4:30 a.m. shooting and subsequent car crashes in a section of the Strip that includes Caesars Palace, Bally’s and the Bellagio.
The shooting came after the occupants of a Range Rover and the Maserati got into an altercation in the valet area of the Aria hotel and casino, according to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.
“We have numerous witnesses to this,” Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said. “But what is the genesis of this? We don’t know yet.”
A major manhunt is under way for the occupants of the Range Rover.
Kenny “Clutch” Cherry of Oakland, Calif. was at the wheel of the Maserati, his father told NBCBayArea.com on Thursday, when a black Range Rover with tinted windows and black rims pulled up and allegedly opened fire near a stoplight in the pre-dawn hours.
A passenger was injured by the gunfire and Cherry was killed, causing the car to spin out of control. The careening silver Maserati smashed into a taxicab, trapping the passenger and driver and causing the cab to burst into flames; both occupants were killed, police said. Then, the Maserati smashed into three other cars before coming to a stop.
The Maserati driver was a Chico State dropout who had gone to Las Vegas to pursue a rap career, father Kenneth Cherry, Sr., told NBCBayArea.com. He had filmed a music video on the Strip featuring his Maserati just months before. Cherry left behind three children, including a toddler and 2-month-old baby girl.
“I heard there was some sort of disagreement and the guys pulled to the side of him, and rolled their window down, and he rolled his window down,” Cherry said. “They just started shooting. My son for the record did not have any guns in his car. There was no gun battle. Nothing like that.”
Attorney Vicki Greco told Reuters she had represented the deceased Cherry in a civil case and a few traffic issues.
The Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner confirmed Cherry's identity and said he died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
The taxi driver was identified as Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas. His passenger was Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash. Both died of "multiple blunt force injuries," the office said.
All three deaths were classified as homicide.
In Las Vegas, visitors and law enforcement reacted with shock to the violent spectacle. The Strip has seen other recent incidents of violence, including a man who fired a gun inside the Circus Circus casino on New Year’s Eve and a parking garage shooting on Feb. 6.
“We get stabbings and gang violence,” Mark Thompson, a visitor from Manchester, England, told The Associated Press, “but this is like something out of a movie. Like ‘Die Hard’ or something.”
Officers are searching for the Range Rover with paper dealership plates and its male African-American occupants, police said. They are combing through surveillance tape for clues.
“Finding those involved is a top priority for my agency and law enforcement here in southern Nevada,” Sheriff Douglas Gillespie of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told NBC affiliate KSNV.
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This story was originally published on Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:19 AM EST
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well my assesment was right. i said, more details will be revealed once the rapper responsible releases his next beef track... of course i was labeled a racist for making such assumption. . half the details are in and we got one rapper involved already. lol.
this kind of stuff doesn't happen often enough.
Your mother will burn in hell just for bringing you on this earth, tough guy.
Rap fan princess?
Aspiring rapper my ass.Drug dealer from Oakland would be more accurate.The father says there were no guns in the car.Whatever!Ya because guys from Oakland never carry guns and they just hand put 125,000 cars like candy there huh?
These guys are dead meat. Even if the cops don't catch them , the mob will. The mob doesn't like anyone playing on their turf and they don't want anybody bringing bad publicity to their biggest town.
Word to that. Hopefully this situation will clean up on its own, quietly.
CATLOVER589 what does this story have anyting to do with liberals or conservatives? i grew up in the 70's and gangs, mafia whatever all ended bad with gun shots. Point is why do these violent crazy acts happen in here but not in places like Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark??? We have a serious problem with our society. Though i would love to get rid of guns, its a much deeper than that. why does a boy who broke up with his girlfriend, decided to shoot her and them himself? Why is violence always the first decision to be made? CATLOVER please dont humiliate yourself by attacking liberals, because our economy has been destroyed by your parties' ideas. dont regulate, the banks will regulate themselves??? let the chinese produce everything, then we can buy cheap crap from china and we will be forever happy in debt. the only reason the economy grew in the last 25 yrs is because of CHEAP CREDIT!!! Yes we dont make anything anymore, therefore we have become the largest debtor nation in the world. oh lets not forget iraq is a real real threat to the US because Sadaam had weapons of mass destr. yet the pentagon reported in 2007, according to the department of defense investigation that sadaam never had weapons of mass destr. I will agree that democrats have been following along with these stupid decisions that republicons call policy, like lets go to war with every country that al queda is in, and lets give the banks tax breaks even though the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK JUST GAVE THEM 25 TRILLION DOLLARS IN BAILOUTS, THANKS TO HENRY PAULSEN AND TIM GEITNER!!!!! catlady you have no room bringing up your party of hippocrits for example: RUSH LIMBAUGH AND BILL O'REILLY ARE BOTH UNION MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNICATIONS UNION, YET THEY TELL YOU THAT UNIONS ARE BAD, shows you just how ignorant people are that listen to them.
Well First off PDITTY...Do a little research and find out WHO actually DEREGULATED the BANKS..That would be the Patron saint of the democratic party..BILL CLINTON...He REPEALED the GLASS-STEGALL act that had been put into place when the last GREAT DEPRESSION hit to KEEP banks from SPECULATING with OUR MONEY...In Essence, DE-regulating them
Secondly... Again the Patron Saint of the Democratic party...BILL CLINTON...Signed into Law...NAFTA..That, in turn OPENED the flood gate of out sourcing of companies from the UNITED STATES to less developed "cheap labor" markets..So the Republicans have had PLENTY of help in WRECKING the ECONOMY..They didnt do it on their own
Thirdly,...IF Bill Oreilly and Rush ARE members of the communications union, then WHO BETTER to CRITICIZE a UNION than ITS OWN MEMBERS???Are you implying that someone that has NEVER worked before would be a better choice to critize a union????
Then Lastly...IF you want to know WHY our society is crumbling, look no further than removing discipline from our SCHOOLS...When I grew up, you MINDED in SCHOOL and had RESPECT for OTHERS...You were TAUGHT that and that carried over into you being a member of SOCIETY...High Schools are nothing but mini- REFORM SCHOOLS now..The Students threaten teachers and other classmates, knowing full well the ONLY punishment that can receive is a trip to the OFFICE..OH MY GOD!!!!!! PLEASE DON'T SEND ME TO THE OFFICE!!! They DON'T respect their parents, they don't respect themselves, they don't respect OTHERS..and THAT behavior carries OVER into society..THAT'S WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA!!!
Well, here's our daily shot of GUN violence by NBC...Can ANYONE name a DAY in recent memory that NBC has NOT had a gun related article?? ALWAYS someone getting shot...NEVER someone getting SAVED..More than a little ONE SIDED if you ask me..
Here"s a thought..How bout writing some GOOD news for a change, and quit trying to push your ANTI-GUN AGENDA at every news release..
NBC has NOW been changed to GRD {Gun Related Deaths}
This is why I refuse to trade in my 2004 Ford Focus sedan for a Maserati.
Rap/Crap cannot evolve as those that produce and create it are not fully evolved. One might argue those that listen to it are "missing links" themselves. This lame excuse for music (talking or mumbling) is mostly created by the most failed people on the planet. Non-contributing, unsuccessful most detrimental race ever in the history of the world. Never a successful country, state, city, town or even a street. They lower education standards & property values wherever they go and that is generally where they are not wanted. The only thing they raise is the prison population.
Wrong! They raise basketball and football players for the professional leagues in the USA!
.....but a lot of them end up in prison after their careers are over...
Arr man, there's a dead body in front of the casino and I can't get in. Will someone please get that body out of the way, like soon?
Aspiring rapper! Who does this and why? Why is it everytime I see the word rap I think it is missing a "C"?
The combination of constant violence shown as entertainment, drugs, plus the proliferation of guns everywhere is just making a wonderful society for us, isn't it?
Nothing good happens at 430 AM
"Officers are searching for the Range Rover with paper dealership plates and its male African-American occupants"
Wasn't that a gimme?
Now stop it because even though it's facts the liberaltards will say your racist.
and a Bigoted,Teatard, Repubilicant,which is also a Right Wing, Bible Thumping, Religious ,God fearing,Gun toting, Redneck Nut..I think that's about got it covered..
Blade,was this negro a friend of yours?? Hope we catch the perps so we can put them in rehab.Who knows could be one of bama's kids
Isn't this what rap encourages? No surprise. I feel bad for the cab driver and occupant.
“We get stabbings and gang violence,” Mark Thompson, a visitor from Manchester, England, told The Associated Press, “but this is like something out of a movie. Like ‘Die Hard’ or something.”
Welcome to LAS VEGAS Vice !!!!
Pretty funny when I heard this story on the radio and heard the make of the vehicles involved that I guess it would involve people from the rap/hip hop music scene! I was right! Too bad huh
Caused by a verbal altercation? Why should we be surprised, rappers don't espouse much intelligence. His mouth apperars to have gotten the best of him.
Notice how the "gun control" nuts are conspicuously absent when the "gun violence" doesn't fit their racial profiling?
I thought gun violence was always at the hands of knukle dragging white guys with no teeth. Isn't that what we are told?
Those rap guys always seem to get dusted when they go out to Vegas.
There are people who believe that if we only had stricter gun control laws, the shooters in the Land Rover would miraculously decide to obey those new laws, and turn in their guns.
If they believe that, they must also believe in the Tooth Fairy.
I'm trying to remember a time when Dean Martin or Elvis or Sinatra ever got into a shootout in Vegas over their music. Could it be that this is a result of the style of "music" or the lifestyle of the "artists" that perform this "music"? Nah, that would make it a social problem and that would be insulting to people that choose to lead that lifestyle. It must be the guns.
really? Is Obammy gonna take the guns away from his homies too?
No. Because they all look like they could be his sons.
Right! I forgot about that.
Glad you reminded me!
OMG another one of our hero's shot and killed.
Black people shooting at black people. Sounds like a broken record to me. And if you think banning guns from the law abiding citizens is going to stop this then you are a moron. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Guns are out there and if you ban them then only criminals and cops will have guns. In my mind they are pretty much the same anymore so that is why I want to have my own to keep these thugs away, or at least be able to return fire.
Oh and to Joe Biden everyone knows he is a hypocrite. we the people only need a shotgun to protect ourselves while he has armed guards with automatic weapons to protect him and his family. If we the people only need a shotgun then the police and his protectors should only need a shotgun, but you know that will never happen, they are above the law and can do whatever they want.