Tag Archives: Ammar Harris

Suspect in Strip shooting-crash returned to Vegas

Police say the suspect in a Las Vegas Strip shooting and fiery crash that killed three people was moved overnight in tight custody from Los Angeles to Nevada to face criminal charges.

Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones tells The Associated Press that 27-year-old Ammar Harris was booked into the Clark County jail early Tuesday.

Jones says the move to Las Vegas was uneventful, but authorities think Harris may have been planning to try to escape.

Harris has been jailed in Los Angeles since his Feb. 28 arrest following an intense manhunt.

He’s accused of firing fatal shots early Feb. 21 at the driver of a Maserati sports car that then slammed into a taxi, killing the cab driver and a tourist from Washington state. Five other people were injured.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/eor7ykszmu8/

DA: Warrant OK'd for Vegas Strip shooting suspect

Prosecutors in Nevada say they’re awaiting the return of a self-described pimp who is jailed in California after a Las Vegas Strip shooting and fiery crash that killed three people.

An aide to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Thursday the governors of the two states signed paperwork to extradite 27-year-old Ammar Harris by May 10.

Court officials in Los Angeles say a status hearing on Harris’ extradition was postponed from Friday to next Wednesday.

Harris has been jailed in Los Angeles since his Feb. 28 arrest following an intense manhunt.

He’s accused of firing fatal shots from a Range Rover SUV at the driver of a Maserati sports car that then slammed into a taxi, killing the cab driver and a tourist from Washington state.

Five other people were injured.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/HX_wPcrE9IQ/

Gov's warrant demanded in Vegas Strip shooting

A Los Angeles judge has formally identified a 26-year-old man as the suspect wanted in a Las Vegas Strip shooting and chain-reaction car crash that killed three people last month.

However, suspect Ammar Harris refused to waive extradition Thursday. His public defender asked that authorities produce a governor’s warrant, and Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba scheduled a status hearing for April 12.

Officials have 90 days to secure the warrant.

Harris was arrested in Los Angeles after a weeklong manhunt that began following the Feb. 21 shooting and crash that also injured five people.

Authorities allege Harris fired from his vehicle into another car driven by a man he had argued with minutes earlier in a casino valet area. A resulting collision caused a taxi to explode.

…read more
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Hearing set for Las Vegas Strip shootout suspect

A man accused of firing gunshots that left a man dead and led to a deadly, fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip faces extradition from California to Nevada.

Ammar Harris is set to appear in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday.

The 26-year-old man was arrested in Los Angeles last Thursday, ending a manhunt that began after the Feb. 21 shootings and crash that killed three people and injured five.

Authorities allege Harris was driving his black Range Rover SUV when he fired at least five shots into a Maserati sports car, killing a man he had argued with minutes earlier in a casino valet area.

The Maserati careened into a taxi that exploded in a fireball. The cab driver and his passenger were killed.

Authorities obtained a warrant for his arrest on murder, attempted murder and shooting charges a day later.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Arrest of Vegas fugitive in LA surprises neighbor

Gail Gaghagen was surprised to learn the man police and FBI agents led away in handcuffs from her luxury apartment complex was a triple murder suspect wanted after a spectacular shootout and fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip.

Just Tuesday, Gaghagen thinks she saw Ammar Harris sitting alone in the gym at Archview Luxury Apartments in Los Angeles‘ Studio City neighborhood, dressed in shorts and a tank top.

“I just walked by and there was a glass door,” Gaghagen told The Associated Press. “I just I looked at him and he looked at me and that was it.”

Gaghagen said she told the same story to FBI agents she met in the apartment elevator after authorities say Harris, a 26-year-old self-described pimp, surrendered Thursday without incident. A woman in the apartment was being questioned but wasn’t charged with a crime.

“I’m just glad they arrested this man,” Gaghagen said.

Harris’ arrest ended a weeklong multi-state manhunt that began after a Feb. 21 shooting and spectacular, fiery crash that killed three people and injured five on the Las Vegas Strip.

“This arrest is much more (than) taking Ammar Harris into custody,” Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie told reporters Thursday 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, a convicted felon in South Carolina who shows fists full of money on Internet posts and boasts of a high-rolling lifestyle with prostitutes in Miami and Las Vegas, was jailed in Los Angeles pending an extradition hearing Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

His arrest ended an intense multi-state search that began after the attack early on a Thursday morning had vehicles crashing like pinballs in 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 at least five shots into a Maserati sports car, killing Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr., a rapper who called himself Kenny Clutch.

A passenger in the Maserati, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Woman, 22, sought in Vegas Strip shooting, crash

A 22-year-old Miami woman with a history of prostitution arrests was identified Tuesday as a person of interest in a Las Vegas Strip shooting that triggered a spectacular fiery crash and left three people dead.

Police said Tineesha Lashun Howard was in a black SUV with Ammar Harris last week when he fired shots into a Maserati sports car at a self-promoted rapper who investigators say argued with Harris minutes earlier in the valet area of a glassy Strip resort.

Maserati driver Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr., 27, was mortally wounded before the sports car accelerated and slammed into a taxi that burst into flames — killing the cab driver and his passenger, a businesswoman from Washington state.

Colleagues of the taxi driver posted a $35,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the arrest of Harris, a 26-year-old felon whom police last year accused of being a panderer.

“We lost one of our own in cab driver Michael Boldon,” said Brent Bell, president of Whittlesea Bell Corp. and the trustee of a trust fund established to pay the reward.

Bell called the death of Sandra Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash., “no less tragic,” and said taxi drivers’ hearts also went out to Cherry’s family in Oakland, Calif.

Investigators have said there were several people in the black Range Rover SUV when the shots rang out. They have only identified Harris and Howard.

Police released several photos of the two together and said Howard also uses the name Yenesis Alfonzo.

A police statement said Howard has been arrested multiple times on charges including prostitution, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle and grand larceny. It wasn’t immediately known if those arrests led to convictions.

Police said Howard was considered missing and possibly in danger.

Harris, who was convicted in South Carolina in 2004 of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol and convicted in Atlanta of a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, is sought in Las Vegas on three murder charges.

Police have said they won’t rest until he is in custody.

“We are confident we know what happened and how,” Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said Tuesday of the shooting and six-vehicle crash. “All this is about now is locating him and arresting him.”

Police previously released a photo of Harris taken after his arrest 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 charges. Court records show that case was dismissed last June.

Ads with Harris’ photo also were posted Monday on billboards along major southern Nevada freeways.

The image shows Harris with tattoos on his right cheek and words on his neck above an image that appeared to depict an owl with blackened eyes. Police said Harris should be considered armed and dangerous.

Public records show Harris previously lived in South Carolina and Georgia, and told police when he was arrested in Miami Beach last December that …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Ammar Harris Search: Warrant Issued For Suspect In Deadly Las Vegas Strip Shooting Suspect

By The Huffington Post News Editors

LAS VEGAS — Police said Monday they have a warrant for a 26-year-old ex-convict identified as the prime suspect in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three people last week on the Las Vegas Strip.

“We can say with certainty that Ammar Harris is the suspect who fired the fatal shots,” Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones told reporters at an afternoon update about a manhunt that he said would be advertised on southern Nevada billboards.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Las Vegas police identify suspect, issue arrest warrant in Strip shooting

Police said Monday they have a warrant for a 26-year-old ex-convict identified as the prime suspect in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three people last week on the Las Vegas Strip.

“We can say with certainty that Ammar Harris is the suspect who fired the fatal shots,” Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones told reporters at an afternoon update about a manhunt that he said would be advertised on southern Nevada billboards.

Police previously released a photo of Harris taken after his arrest last year in Las Vegas in a 2010 prostitution case. It showed Harris with tattoos on his right cheek and words on his neck above an image that appeared to depict an owl with blackened eyes. Jones said Harris should be considered armed and dangerous.

Jones said investigators were looking everywhere Harris had lived in the past. He wasn’t specific.

Police also warned anyone aware of his location or who may be assisting Harris ‘in any way’ that he will be prosecuted.

“If Mr. Harris is listening, I urge him to surrender and make himself available to the criminal justice system where he will be afforded all the rights that anybody would be afforded,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, said, according to Fox5Vegas.com.

Public records show that Harris previously lived in South Carolina and Georgia, and told a police officer when he was arrested in Miami Beach last December that he had lived in Florida for about a year.

Harris was convicted in 2004 in Orangeburg, S.C., of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol, Jones said. The conviction was not in California, as police said earlier.

Harris used the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris when he was arrested last May in Las Vegas in the June 2010 case. He was charged with robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon.

Las Vegas police also sought pandering by force and ex-felon in possession of concealed weapon charges stemming from allegations that Harris was a pimp and attacked a woman.

Court records show the case was dismissed last June. The prosecutor and a public defender who handled the case didn’t immediately respond to messages Monday.

In Miami Beach, Harris was arrested Dec. 7 after he was accused of driving a silver 2006 Hummer H3 the wrong way on a congested street at 2 a.m. The arresting officer said Harris produced a Florida state identification card and provided a Miami address. The status of the case in Miami-Dade courts was unclear Monday.

In Atlanta, Harris was arrested in June 2004 on a felony marijuana possession with intent to distribute charge. According to court records, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge and was sentenced to three months in jail.

Fulton County jail records show Harris spent about two weeks in jail in February 2008 after a misdemeanor battery arrest. The outcome of that case was not immediately clear Monday.

In Las Vegas, investigators say Harris was driving a black Range Rover SUV when he fired shots into a Maserati before dawn Thursday, killing an aspiring …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

In hunt for Las Vegas shooting suspect, police focus on home, work

Investigators searching for a suspect in a Las Vegas shooting and vehicle crash that killed three people last week are focusing on places where the alleged gunman lived and worked.

Public records show that 26-year-old Ammar Harris lived in South Carolina and Georgia. He was convicted in Atlanta in 2005 of marijuana possession; he was arrested in Miami in December on a reckless driving charge and in Las Vegas last year on pandering, kidnapping, sex assault and coercion charges.

“We have him identified,” Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones told the Associated Press. “Now the focus is on locating and apprehending him. We’re getting help all over the place.”

Harris is accused of firing shots into a Maserati last Thursday, killing aspiring rapper Kenny Cherry, and causing a crash and explosion that killed two other people in a taxi at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. The incidents happened on the boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally’s and Flamingo resorts, police told the Associated Press.

On Saturday afternoon, police found a black Range Rover SUV – believed to be connected to the shooting — at an apartment complex east of the Las Vegas Strip. A SWAT team didn’t find Harris at his home in the complex, but the vehicle has been impounded as evidence.

Cherry, 27, was driving his Maserati when police say a shooter from the black Range Rover SUV peppered his car before it sped through a red light and smashed into a taxi, killing driver Michael Boldon, of Las Vegas, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash..

Boldon, the taxi driver, was described as a family man who hailed from Michigan. Sutton-Wasmund came from a loving Washington state family and was well regarded in her community.

Police said the shooting stemmed from an altercation between Cherry and Harris in a valet area of the upscale Aria resort a block south of the crash scene at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.

“What the original disagreement was is crucial to the ongoing investigation and the identification of the suspects,” said Las Vegas Police Officer Bill Cassell.

Police said a passenger in Cherry’s Maserati was wounded in the arm, but was treated at a hospital and released. He was reported to be cooperating with investigators, and his name wasn’t made public.

Besides Cherry‘s passenger, police said five other people were treated for injuries after the six-vehicle crash. No one was said to face life-threatening injuries.

Authorities have also released a photo of Harris taken following his arrest in Las Vegas last year in a prostitution case. The disposition of the case wasn’t immediately known.

The photo showed Harris with tattoos on his right cheek and words on his neck above an image that appeared to depict an owl with blackened eyes. Las Vegas Police Capt. Chris Jones said Harris should be considered armed and dangerous.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Ammar Harris Named As Prime Suspect Sought In Las Vegas Shooting, Crash

By The Huffington Post News Editors

LAS VEGAS — Police are seeking a 26-year-old man as the prime suspect in last week’s pre-dawn shooting and crash on the Las Vegas Strip that killed three people and injured several others

The black SUV used as a getaway car was found Saturday as police named Ammar Harris in connection with the shooting and six-vehicle chain-reaction carnage Thursday on the neon-lit boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally’s and Flamingo resorts,

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Cops Name Suspect in Vegas Shooting

By Polly Davis Doig The man responsible for a shootout on the Las Vegas Strip that killed three in a Diehard- esque scene is armed and on the loose, police say. Police last night named 26-year-old Ammar Harris, aka Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, as the suspect in the shooting that caused a deadly car… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

Police find Range Rover, ID suspect in Vegas shooting

Police have found a black Range Rover SUV in Las Vegas and identified a suspect in a shooting that sent a Maserati into a taxi that exploded, killing three people.

Police Capt. Chris Jones tells The Associated Press the vehicle was found Saturday afternoon at an apartment complex east of the Las Vegas Strip. It has been impounded as evidence.

Jones says police are looking for 26-year-old Ammar Harris in connection with the shooting early Thursday on the Strip. His arrest history in Las Vegas includes charges of kidnapping and pandering.

Maserati driver and aspiring rapper Kenny Cherry was killed by gunfire.

Taxi driver Michael Boldon, of Las Vegas, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash., died when the Maserati crashed into them.

Cherry, 27, was driving in his Maserati on the Vegas Strip when police say a shooter from a black Range Rover SUV peppered his car before it sped through a red light and smashed into a taxi, killing Michael Boldon, the taxi driver, and his passenger in the backseat.

The rapper would film online music videos on the Strip and post them online. In one song he raps, “One mistake change lives all in one night.”

In this case, three lives were cut shot.

Boldon, the taxi driver, was described as a family man who hailed from Michigan. His passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, came from a loving Washington state family and was well regarded in her community.

As investigators Saturday tried to find the gunman in a black Range Rover SUV who triggered the shocking chain of events, families and friends tried to grasp the blink-of-an-eye finality of it all.

Right now my heart is breaking,” said Cherry’s great aunt, Patricia Sims, of Oakland, Calif. “This has really been a tragedy. Kenny was just a delightful kid.”

Sims, 75, said Cherry moved to Las Vegas from Northern California, though she didn’t know her nephew was a rapper using the name Kenny Clutch.

Cherry’s parents were traveling to Las Vegas on Friday to claim his body.

The taxi exploded into flames, killing Boldon and Sutton-Wasmund, as four other vehicles crashed like pinballs at an intersection overlooked by some of Las Vegas‘ most famous hotel-casinos: Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally’s and the Flamingo.

Police think an argument at the valet area of the upscale Aria resort-casino led to the shooting, but they haven’t shared details. The shooting happened the same night that Morocco-born rapper French Montana was playing at Aria’s signature nightclub, Haze.

“What the original disagreement was is crucial to the ongoing investigation and the identification of the suspects,” said Las Vegas police officer Bill Cassell.

Police said a passenger in the Maserati was wounded in the arm but was treated at a hospital and released. He was reported to be cooperating with investigators, and his name wasn’t made public.

Cherry’s father, Kenneth Cherry Sr., of Emeryville, Calif., said he was struggling to handle his grief.

He said his son started a music career in Oakland after attending two Catholic high schools. According to his father, Cherry was recognized by other rappers within a West Coast …read more
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