February 20, 2013
ABC News(LAS VEGAS) -- Police believe an altercation at a Las Vegas hotel led to a deadly drive-by shooting on the occupants of a Maserati sports car. The shooting occured on the city's glitzy strip early Thursday morning and left three people dead, including two who died when their taxi was struck by the careening sports car and exploded into flames.
The occupants of a Range Rover SUV shot at two people in the Maserati, which caused a multi-car accident. Police have not released the model of the Maserati, but the price of a new Maserati ranges from $123,000 to $142,000.
When asked if authorities knew any more about the altercation that led to the shooting, Officer Bill Cassell of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police said, "We believe we do at this point, but we are not putting that information out."
Cassell could not yet say exactly where the altercation took place. He said police are planning on releasing more information later Thursday.
Police said that they believe a group of men riding in a black Range Rover Sport SUV pulled up alongside the Maserati around 4:20 a.m. and fired shots into the car, striking the driver and passenger, according to Officer Jose Hernandez of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.
The Maserati then swerved through an intersection, hitting at least four other cars. One car that was struck, a taxi with a driver and passenger in it, caught on fire and burst into flames, trapping both occupants, Hernandez said.
The SUV then fled the scene, according to cops.
The driver of the Maserati died from his gunshot wounds at University Medical Center shortly after the shooting, according to Sgt. John Sheahan.
The driver and passenger of the taxi both died in the car fire.
At least three individuals, including the passenger of the Maserati, were injured during the shooting and car crashes and are being treated at UMC hospital.
Police are scouring surveillance video from the area, including from the strip's major casinos, to try and identify the Range Rover and its occupants, according to police.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio
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Updated 5:10pm 2/20/13
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — The woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her has been released on bond to await trial for her boyfriend's murder.
Crystal Mangum was released Wednesday from the Durham County jail, where she had been held since her April 2011 arrest for the fatal stabbing of Reginald Daye.
The 34-year-old mother is representing herself in court, saying she killed Daye in self-defense. It wasn't immediately clear who posted her $200,000 bond.
In 2006, Mangum claimed Duke lacrosse players gang raped her at a team party where she was hired as a stripper.
The three arrested were eventually declared innocent by North Carolina's attorney general after Mangum's story crumbled and her mental stability was called into question. The Durham prosecutor who championed her case was later disbarred.
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Amid a national debate on gun control Vice President Biden is viewed as the Democratic party’s point-man on strengthening the limits of firearm ownership.
But in an online town-hall discussion today, Biden was flooded with inquiries from those less inclined to agree with his party’s push to ban high capacity magazines and assault weapons. “Parents” magazine hosted the event, taking submitted questions from readers.
One participant asked the vice president how he reconciled a ban on assault weapons with those already in the hands of criminals.
“How can say this politely?” Biden responded. “The Constitution does allow the government to conclude that there are certain types of weapons that no one can legally known. Now, if that were not the case, then you should be able to go buy a flame-thrower that the military has. You should be able to go, if you’re a billionaire, buy an F-15 [jet fighter] loaded with ordnance. You should be able to buy an M1 tank. You should be able to buy a machine gun. You should be able to buy a grenade launcher. And you can’t do those things.”
The vice president said if one accepts those limitations, the question becomes balancing the right to weapons for self defense, sporting, and those outlawed.
Biden, the owner of two shotguns, has often used his firearm ownership in debates of the practicality of assault weapons. In a particularly offbeat moment today, he explained an imaginary scenario where trouble would come to his Delaware home:
“I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house.”
Continuing the trope, Biden stated a shotgun would be easier to fend off an intruder than the civilian variant of an M-16 assault rifle.
“You don’t need an AR-15,” he said. “It’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself,” he said.
“Buy a shotgun,” he concluded.
Another reader questioned how a “ban on guns” would work when prohibition of narcotics failed to keep them off the streets.
Biden responded curtly.
“There is no ban on guns,” he said. “No one’s banning the gun. No one’s taking my shotguns. I have two shotguns at home. They’re in a — in a cabinet. They’re locked. There is a ammunition there as well. No one is going to come and take my gun. No one’s going to take anyone’s gun. We’re talking about a background check.”