Search widens for suspect in Vegas Strip shooting
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A manhunt has widened to southeastern U.S. states for a 26-year-old ex-convict identified as the prime suspect in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three last week on the Las Vegas Strip, police said Monday.
Ammar Harris used to live in South Carolina and Georgia, was convicted in Atlanta in 2005 of marijuana possession and was arrested in Miami in December on reckless driving and failure to produce a valid driver's license charges, according to public records.
"We have him identified," Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones said. "Now the focus is on locating and apprehending him. We're getting help all over the place."
Harris used the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris when he was arrested last May in Las Vegas in a 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 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, provided a Miami address and said he had been living in Florida for about a year. The status of the case in Miami-Dade courts was unclear 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 rapper and causing a crash that killed two people when a taxi exploded in a fireball at the heart of the Strip.
A SWAT team didn't find Harris at a Las Vegas apartment where he was believed to have been living after the SUV was found parked Saturday in the garage of a gated complex a couple of blocks east of the Strip.
The SUV had been sought as the getaway vehicle in the shooting and six-vehicle, chain-reaction crash on Las Vegas Boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally's and Flamingo resorts.
Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. was mortally wounded when the dark gray Maserati he was driving was peppered by gunfire from the SUV. Taxi driver Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas, and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash., died in the taxi.
Police say the triple homicide 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.
A passenger in the Maserati was wounded in the arm, and four people from four other vehicles were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the crash.
Police released a photo of Harris taken after last year's arrest in Las Vegas in the 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.
Las Vegas police sought help during last week's search for the Range Rover from local and federal authorities in Nevada and neighboring states of Arizona, California and Utah.
Ammar Harris used to live in South Carolina and Georgia, was convicted in Atlanta in 2005 of marijuana possession and was arrested in Miami in December on reckless driving and failure to produce a valid driver's license charges, according to public records.
"We have him identified," Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones said. "Now the focus is on locating and apprehending him. We're getting help all over the place."
Harris used the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris when he was arrested last May in Las Vegas in a 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 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, provided a Miami address and said he had been living in Florida for about a year. The status of the case in Miami-Dade courts was unclear 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 rapper and causing a crash that killed two people when a taxi exploded in a fireball at the heart of the Strip.
A SWAT team didn't find Harris at a Las Vegas apartment where he was believed to have been living after the SUV was found parked Saturday in the garage of a gated complex a couple of blocks east of the Strip.
The SUV had been sought as the getaway vehicle in the shooting and six-vehicle, chain-reaction crash on Las Vegas Boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally's and Flamingo resorts.
Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. was mortally wounded when the dark gray Maserati he was driving was peppered by gunfire from the SUV. Taxi driver Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas, and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash., died in the taxi.
Police say the triple homicide 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.
A passenger in the Maserati was wounded in the arm, and four people from four other vehicles were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the crash.
Police released a photo of Harris taken after last year's arrest in Las Vegas in the 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.
Las Vegas police sought help during last week's search for the Range Rover from local and federal authorities in Nevada and neighboring states of Arizona, California and Utah.
His mother must be so proud.
any identifying marks?
Nevada under Democrat Senator Harry Reid has consistently had a murder rate well above the national average, for many years now. It's about time the Democrats take some responsibility for their failures here.Â
@Whobeke lol
And, to tie this to another topic in the National spotlight; the reason to be an armed and trained citizen, is to avoid becoming prey to this type of inhuman predator. Â
@EastSideTony Â
This particular shooting was an ambush between two moving vehicles; it sounds like the driver got nailed in the chest, died, and his car slammed into oncoming traffic. Being armed would not have helped in that particular case. Even armed police officers have died under similar circumstances (eg, the Monfort shooting from 2009).
@Whobeke was not referring to just this incident. See previous crimes by this loser. Robbery, Sexual Assault and Kidnapping.  How glorious would it be to instead be reading a news report that says, "Target of Robbery, Sexual assault and Kidnapping attempt thwarted her attacker today by killing him with her concealed handgun." Three people would still be alive, and with their families today if somewhere along the line this piece of trash had been sanitized from the gene pool.
He was such a big man when he killed someone, but now I'm sure he's cowering in a corner somewhere.
Boy THAT one is a REAL winner...Whose idea was it to let him out again>?
Wow....what a waist of space!
He was a such a good boy, he was just starting to turn his life around...........
By By Ammar Harris rot in hell.
Another career criminal out on the loose.
Next time when you catch him lock him up and throw away the key. He's only going to offend again. People like him only think your stuff is his stuff.
WOW!! a convicted felon, with a gun, driving a Hummer and then a Land Rover. Hmm out on a limb here says he paid cash for everything.
I might be going out on a limb here but I'm willing to bet that he won't be observing any new gun control laws that comes out of DC.
Double tap....
Another prime example of our failed Justice System.. he should have never been on the streets in the first place
Anyone know what the outcome of his 2010 charge of "robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon.", and why, exactly, was he not locked up? Another horrible human tragedy perpetrated by another horrible mistake who has no business living in society.
@EastSideTony Come on ... I'm sure he did his month in jail.
i'm sure he will be hard to spot. Really he can run but he can not hide with all he's strirred up.
What I do not get is why Cherry Jr. is being played as a saint?
I'm sure the young man was just getting his life back on track and really was a good boy, just misunderstood........