www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-25-Thu-2005/news/27101696.html


'Go ahead and do it,' husband recalls telling man at Suncoast who killed wife



By FRANK CURRERI
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Ronald Miller stared down the barrel of a gun Tuesday morning and didn't beg for mercy.

"Go ahead and do it, you son of a bitch," Miller recalled telling the armed stranger who ambushed him and his wife in the Suncoast casino parking lot.

Within seconds, the man made good on his threat to kill and pulled the trigger.

Miller's wife, Julie, 68, who he said had offered the gunman money, lay dying in the Henderson couple's vehicle.

Homicide detectives continued their search for the assailant Wednesday, leaving Ronald Miller, also 68, alone at his apartment to ponder his wife's death.

"He really didn't get anything," Miller said of the gunman. "How could it happen? I just don't know."

Police returned the couple's Mitsubishi Outlander to Miller on Wednesday after combing it for clues.

Miller said he found in his wife's purse, which was in the vehicle, three $100 bills. Perhaps the gunman ran off with a small stack of bills, but it would have been mostly $1 bills, he said.

The offer of money did more to antagonize the assailant than satisfy him, Miller said.

" 'That's not good enough,' " he recalled the gunman saying. " 'I'm not kidding. I'm gonna kill you.' "

Miller said he pushed the gun away, perhaps further angering the man.

Some of his interactions with the man were "probably stupid," Miller acknowledged Wednesday.

Las Vegas police have only a vague description of the gunman. He is possibly a black man in his 30s who was wearing a khaki shirt and dark trousers, police say.

Authorities obtained video footage from the Suncoast, near Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive, and believe the tape supports Miller's account.

"We do have video of this person (the suspect) running through the parking lot and leaving the area in a silver Dodge Magnum station wagon," said police Lt. Tom Monahan.

Monahan said the video was recorded around the time of the confrontation and shooting, which happened about 10:45 a.m. The video does not include footage of the attack, he said.

Investigators will review other casino robberies in their search for information on the suspect, Monahan said.

The Millers went to Summerlin on Tuesday so that Ronald Miller could be examined by a doctor. Miller said the doctor had pronounced him healthy, and he and his wife then headed to the Suncoast for Mexican food.

"We pulled in the parking space, and all of the sudden -- bingo -- there he was," Miller said. "He just shoved a gun in our face."

Miller received a gunshot wound to his right arm. He said the gunman also pistol-whipped him.

"His mind was made up. He was definitely gonna shoot us for sure," said Miller, who added that he kissed his wife before her body was taken away on a gurney.

The Millers were married more than 40 years, he said.

He met the former flight attendant through a friend.

"She was too classy for me, that's what I thought," Miller said of his wife. "She went to the University of Washington. She was a snob. That's what we used to call her. ... She was such a lovable person.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," he said of his wife's death. "It will."

Miller said he works part time in security and has a concealed weapons permit.

Sometimes, he said, he carries a handgun during daytime trips. He said he wished he had been carrying the gun Tuesday morning.

He would probably be dead if he had his gun with him. He sounds like a stubborn, bitter old man. He lost his wife over a few bucks, I'm sure it would have taken him a good 7 seconds to take the seatbelt off, lift his shirt and get the gun out of the holster it hasn't been out of for the last 5 years. The only other way I see this is shithead shooting at the bad guy as he is running away and possibly hitting someone not involved or hitting the fleeing bad guy which lands him in jail.