3 killed in Laughlin melee
Biker battle leaves 16 wounded at casino
Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic
By Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
April 28, 2002 12:00:00
LAUGHLIN, Nev. - A long-simmering rivalry between two motorcycle gangs exploded into gunfire and knife attacks early Saturday on Harrah's busy casino floor, leaving three dead and 16 wounded.
The melee, which police said involved members of the Los Angeles chapters of the Hells Angels and Mongols, sent panicked casino customers fleeing for their lives shortly after 2 a.m. into the parking lot of the casino on the bank of the Colorado River.
Lt. Vincent Cannito of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, which patrols the Laughlin area, said the gunbattle involved about 70 gang members. Cannito said that one unidentified suspect had been taken into custody and that police were in the process of interviewing about 200 people. Identities of the three victims, all believed to be gang members, were not released pending notification of relatives.
The violence, the worst ever in a Nevada casino, took place during one of the marquee nights of the 20th annual Laughlin River Run, one of the largest biker gatherings in the country, which attracts 75,000 to 100,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to Laughlin each year.
Robert Marriott of Garden Grove, Calif., said he was with friends in the Harrah's parking lot when he heard what he thought was automatic gunfire from inside the casino.
"I heard everyone screaming and running, and they just surged through the doors like they were a herd of cattle," Marriott said. "People were yelling, 'They're killing everybody inside!' "
Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies in San Bernardino County, Calif., were investigating the shooting death Saturday of another biker along Interstate 40, near Ludlow, 60 miles west of the Arizona line.
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Sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said the body of the unidentified man, who was affiliated with a biker group in San Diego and appeared to have been shot while riding his motorcycle, was found alongside the highway. Patterson said an investigation is centering on whether the shooting death was related to the casino melee.
"The rumors of retaliation have already hit the street," said Larry Tunforss, a Bullhead City Fire Department spokesman. "Our Police Department is beefing up intensely. There's a definite concern of further incidents."
Cannito and other police officers said the Laughlin free-for-all began when one Mongol walked into a group of Hells Angels in a bar on the first floor of Harrah's near a bank of slot machines. Many members of both gangs had rented rooms at Harrah's and a number of Hells Angels also were staying at a hotel across the river in Bullhead City, police said.
Other witnesses said events started 24 hours before when Mongols outnumbered Hells Angels by as many as 4-1 in the bar area where the gunfire broke out. They also said that violence between the two groups almost began then and that numerous Mongols had been intimidating visitors to the casino throughout Friday.