The Los Angeles Times reports on Thursday that Ammar Harris was taken into custody by FBI agents as a suspect in a shooting and chain-reaction car crash on the Las Vegas strip last week.
The twenty-six year old is apparently a self-described pimp who has had his fair share of run-ins with the law. He has been arrested for sexual assault and pandering as well as pimping charges according to law enforcement sources.
According to CNN, Harris was detained without incident in the Los Angeles neighborhood and will be held pending extradition proceedings, Las Vegas police said in a news release. "Mr. Harris is in custody, and that's where we hope to keep him," said Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Steiber.
On Feb. 21, Harris in a Range Rover reportedly pulled up to a Maserati and yelled at the driver who happened to be Kenneth Cherry, an aspiring rapper known as Kenny Clutch according to the arrest warrant. There was a brief exchange before both vehicles drove off at the time of the light change.
According to authorities, a few minutes later the driver of the Range Rover opened fire at the rapper’s vehicle on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Cherry, 27, was shot in the chest and the arm. He later died at the hospital. The story gets worse as during the altercation, Cherry’s car collided with a taxi which caught on fire and ultimately led to the death of the cab driver Michael Boldon. Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, who was a passenger in the cab, also lost her life that day.
"I can't imagine anything more serious than firing a weapon from a moving vehicle into another moving vehicle on a corner such as Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo," Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson said Thursday. "That is reckless. It disregards human life."
The tragic incident caused officials to close down a block and a half of the well-known boulevard. Picture cruising by area hotels Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo and witnessing a vehicle open-firing at another car while on the move. Even for Las Vegas, this is a little out there.
It should be interesting to see if this incident causes a drop in tourism for the popular city. Like anything else, once the dust settles travelers will most likely forget all about this.
After all, if the drugs, hookers and constant shenanigans by ordinary people haven't kept families from visiting Las Vegas, a shooting probably won't either.
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