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GENE BLEVINS / Los Angeles Daily News
Local residents watch as the media arrive at the Studio City, Calif., apartment where police say Ammar Harris, a felon sought in a shooting and crash that killed three people on the Las Vegas Strip, was arrested, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013.
By Tovin Lapan (contact) 
Published Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 | 1:03 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 | 9:01 p.m.
Ammar Harris
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Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said the suspect in the Strip shooting that left three dead demonstrated “reckless disregard for human life,” and would not rule out seeking the death penalty after the man’s arrest Thursday in Los Angeles.
After a weeklong, nationwide manhunt, Ammar Harris, 26, was found at an apartment complex in Studio City, where Los Angeles Police Department officers and FBI agents converged around noon. Harris surrendered peacefully, Metro Police Lt. Ray Steiber said.
Harris faces three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, plus counts of discharging a firearm into a vehicle and discharging a firearm out of a vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed last week by Clark County prosecutors. The murder charges ultimately may be changed to capital murder.
At the news conference announcing the arrest Thursday, Wolfson said his office would follow its usual procedure in determining whether Harris would face the death penalty. The decision to file capital murder charges is determined by a committee of prosecutors in the D.A.'s office.
But, Wolfson said, "I can tell you that Mr. Harris’ behavior is like none other that I've seen, and I've been in law enforcement for 32 years."
"I can’t imagine anything much more serious than firing a weapon from a moving vehicle into another moving vehicle on a corner such as Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo. That is reckless disregard for human life, and there are certain consequences when you engage in that kind of behavior," Wolfson said.
After his arrest, Harris was transported to the LAPD Metro Detention Center. "He's in the process of being booked. We'll see if he waives extradition," Steiber said during a 4 p.m. media conference.
Metro detectives were on their way to Los Angeles to interview Harris, Steiber added.
Harris, 26, had been identified by Metro as the person who fired gunshots from a Range Rover into a Maserati sports car in the early-morning hours of Feb. 21 as the vehicles made their way up the Las Vegas Strip.
Kenneth Cherry Jr., the driver of the Maserati, and a passenger were hit in the shooting. Cherry’s wounds caused him to lose control of the car, which ran a red light at Flamingo Road and crashed into a taxi.
The impact triggered an explosion in the cab. Three people were killed: Cherry; the cab driver, Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas; and cab passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, a businesswoman from Maple Valley, Wash. The criminal complaint filed against Harris identified the passenger who survived as Freddy Walters.
Cherry’s family expressed elation after learning of Harris’ arrest. But the timing of the news on the day of Cherry’s funeral in Oakland made the news bittersweet, the family said in a statement through their attorney, Bob Beckett. Cherry’s father, Kenneth Cherry Sr., expressed hope that the district attorney would seek the death penalty for Harris.
“It is consoling to know that the state of Nevada has the death penalty,” Cherry Sr. said in the statement.
An argument between Cherry and Harris reportedly occurred before both men left Aria early in the morning of Feb. 21, but detectives do not believe they knew each other previously, Steiber said.
Harris had eluded authorities since the shooting. The Range Rover was found Saturday in the parking lot of an apartment complex where Harris lived, not far from the shooting scene.
Harris was said to have been from South Carolina and spent time in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Miami. Authorities said earlier this week that their search for him stretched from Maine to California.
“(Harris) left Las Vegas shortly after this event occurred … He did leave Las Vegas pretty rapidly,” Steiber said.
Steiber did not give details about how police located and closed in on Harris.
The FBI told the Los Angeles Daily News that Harris was arrested around noon at a fourth floor apartment on Arch Drive, where he was staying with a friend. Harris’ friend lived in the Archview Apartments, the newspaper reported.
FBI special agent Scott Garriola told the Los Angeles paper that the friend was detained for questioning but was not thought to be involved in the incident.
Earlier Thursday, Metro Capt. Chris Jones reported three witnesses who had been with Harris the morning of the shooting had been located and interviewed. One, Yenesis Alfonso, also known as Tineesha Lishun Howard, was found outside Nevada and interviewed Wednesday evening after being named as a person of interest in the case.
Alfonso and the other two witnesses were cooperative and were not considered suspects, Jones said.
Harris was arrested in 2010 in Las Vegas on charges of pandering, kidnapping, sexual assault and coercion. He is also known by the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, and uses the nickname Jai’duh.
Alfonso’s arrest history includes soliciting prostitution, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle and grand larceny, trick roll, according to Metro Police.
On a networking website for models and photographers, someone who appears to be Harris posted a profile under the name Jai’duh.
The profile says Jai’duh is a fashion photographer looking for models, and includes samples of his work. The profile, created June 15, 2008, states: “Just relocated to Las Vegas from Atlanta. … So I’m fresh out here.”
Attempts to contact models who appeared to have worked with Harris were unsuccessful.
Harris had at least two twitter feeds, @NY and @jaiduh. The former was used more frequently and was deleted after the shooting, while the latter was seldom used and remains active but is a private account.
On social media, Harris flaunted a lavish lifestyle, posting videos of him counting $100 bills and partying in Miami and elsewhere.
A Lockerz.com account that appears to belong to Harris includes pictures of stacks of cash harnessed by rubber bands, expensive luxury cars and a Carbon 15 .223 caliber pistol.
In one photo that looks to be a screen capture of an instant message conversation, someone tells Harris: “A ho with no instructions, will fail in self-destruction.”
Harris also posted a picture of a credit card for “AMG Lifestyle” with the caption “Filing taxes on em lol,” and identified himself as AMG Management on his Twitter account.
A business entity search in Florida found an AMG Lifestyle Inc. registered to Alfonso.
Harris is scheduled to appear Monday morning in an L.A. courtroom on a fugitive warrant, Los Angeles County District Attorney Sandi Gibbons told Los Angeles Daily News. Next for Harris will be extradition back to Nevada, Metro indicated, where a warrant charging him with three counts of murder was issued Friday.
News of his arrest was greeted warmly.
“The Desert Cab family is just absolutely elated,” said Sandy Shaver, general manager of Desert Cab, the company whose taxi was involved in the collision that resulted in the deaths of Boldon and Sandra Sutton-Wasmund.
“It was so irritating that he was still out there. We couldn’t be happier right now,” Shaver said.
Shaver said word of the arrest spread rapidly on two-way radios used by drivers in their cabs.
“Nothing in the 20 years I’ve worked here has put such a weight on the company more than the loss of Michael (Boldon) and his passenger,” Shaver said. “It’s a big relief to us that he has been caught.”
Excellant job Metro & all involved. Let's not stop here let's round up the rest of the pimps. God Bless
Good job LEO's!!!
Great. Let this scum rot in jail.
Good job Metro and I assume LAPD.
Great job, was he found at an "associates" or "fellow thugs" house? I might have to get me a neck tatoo this weekend!
Guess we will be seeing some new "gangsta pimp" going to be livin large on the reward money...
There's no honor among theives.
Great job Metro and LAPD.
Now extradite and once convicted.....death penalty.
Hiding in North Hollywood? WooT
Arrest and prosecute the owner of the house if he knew this scumbag was hiding out there.
Even though this is a good day, it means little to the taxi driver and passengers families. They will suffer for an eternity over their loss.
nice...glad to see him arrested....he wont be livin' so large now...no mo poppin bottles, no mo bit@hes to slap around...26 years old, life is over...sad thing is, hes probably already been replaced!
great job to all law enforcement involved. though we can't bring back the lives of those who have been lost, at there is some peace in knowing he has been found.
Such a pretty smile. That pretty face will come in handy where he is going.
Big pimpin' style now, eh tough guy?!
As someone who modeled and used the above mentioned modeling website in the past, it is downright frightening to think that this guy has a working portfolio as a photographer and is looking for models. (Most likely to recruit prostitutes, as he is a known pimp). Sadly, he's probably one of thousands.
Thank goodness he is off the streets. He has hurt enough people.
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Thank you, Metro, LAPD, and FBI for doing an exemplary job. You are appreciated.
Great news! Now they have to prove he did it.
I am hoping the SUN ot Las Vegas News can report on the impact of Propane tanks in Cabs. When I google a few other deaths show up of people in vegas visiting and the taxi cab getting rear ended and killing some of the passagers in the back seat. It appears it was to go green or to make taxi cab companys more profit. Either way I think it is a big risk. Shouldn't cabs that use propane have to have a sign to let customers know about the risk the are taking? Some third world countries do this and I was suprised to learn about this in the U.S.A.
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CHicago, it was gasoline, not propane.
Oh, and Steve? Steve Wolfson? This ain't constable Bonaventure...seek the death penalty.
The extradition of Harris will give new meaning to "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Nice work, now force the rest of these thugs out of town and let them set up shop back in LA!
Thanks to Metro & all involved. Hopefully this pizz ant punk will never see freedom again. No punishment is too severe for this air burst.
Little worse than a pimp... scum of the earth.
Poor soul, maybe OJ can mentor him @ Love Rock?
Before we all join Metro's celebration let's remember that there is a long road between an arrest and a conviction.
Personally I would like to get more information from the Sun on Harris' arrest last year for robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping, coercion with a weapon, pandering by force, and felon in possession of concealed weapon.
Those charges should have been enough to keep him off the streets, which would have avoided this tragedy. Why were the charges dismissed?
Here goes the 4+ year circus also known as a trial where the dirtbag defense attorney team introduces 47 delays in the trial so that they can dream up all the reasons that the cab driver was at fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and that Harris was really an outstanding citizen and contributed to the community and was a good boy in school. Don't call me for jury duty...GUILTY-DEATH SENTENCE for this Boy.
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His mama will come out soon and says "He is a good boy. There's no way he can hurt anyone. He is a sweet kid."
here's a little rap ditty you homeys can sing with me after your pimpin' thuggin' main man is convicted of capital murder:
gonna fry this dude
in da 'lectric chair
gonna fry him good
'till he got no hair
cops dun booked 'im
we 'den gonna cook 'im
we gonna take picha's after his death row's savv-wa-fair
- every homey together now
- sing it 'wit meeeeeeee
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"I can't imagine anything much more serious than firing a weapon from a moving vehicle into another moving vehicle on a corner such as Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo. That is reckless disregard for human life, and there are certain consequences when you engage in that kind of behavior," Wolfson said."
What a Twit?
Because it happened at LVB/Flamingo he's shocked?
This crap happens all around town almost daily during your stint as DA!
Grow a pair and start terminating this scum! If you're a tree hugger, I will help you build a solar powered electric chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gun battle between two cars? That is what Metro said. Mutual combat or self defence? The name of the club was called: "Haze" Why don't they charge the casino execs as accessories? They knew the club was a drug and prostituting nexus, like most of the "clubs" in town.
Don't they have a "pimp and ho" convention at a casino in the area every year?
Wolfson is inept. He will get a plea deal from this guy, life without parole, because Metro wrecked the chances for the death penalty with their blabber mouth routine to the media.
Dude! I tweeted you CEASELESSLY! I said, "Hide in da bookstore, or in da library! Go hang out in da job placement place! Nobody be lookin' for you there!" And then you end up in a place where everybody be lookin'! North Hollywood. Damn! Why not walk down Times Square with a sign 'round your neck saying, 'Here I am!'"
What are the odds that this tough guy was pissing himself for the last week? I wonder if all his friends and ho's turned on him for the reward money? Bet he got found because he COULDN'T NOT USE HIS CELL PHONE. Typical.
I hope they charge the friend for harboring and abetting a fugitive.
Convict this guy quickly and then execute him. I only wish they still allowed death by hanging in Nevada.
"...on a corner such as Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo. That is reckless disregard for human life, and there are certain consequences when you engage in that kind of behavior," Wolfson said."
Isn't it a shame that a good arrest is clouded by the statements made at the press conference?
An experienced reporter would call them out and bring up the 2005 shooting across Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the old Boardwalk-30 some rounds fired on a crowded street. The July 2005 Las Vegas Weekly even had a cartoon, "What to do if you're caught in the line of gunfire."
Or the O'Sheas crosswalk shooting with 5-6 'hits'. Or the soccer coach from Arizona shot at the same crosswalk. There are plenty of other shootings (and fatal stabbings) that apparently scroll off of their memories..but not of the memories of the cops that were there or who tried to stop the bleeding of the smut peddler stabbed in front of PH...or the prostitute stabbed at the front of Ballys...or a the bus stop at the Tropicana...NYNY or Cosmo walkways...
And this one is more important because it happened a block or two away from the locations of other incidents-or because of the death toll? 3 dead at once vs. one dead a a time in 'islolated' incidents? Just an anomaly-right!
I'm not easily persuaded to enforce the death penalty, but in this case I make an exception.
I hope he finds out who ratted him out and that it drives him crazy. I mean, it's not like he can jump in his range rover and go after someone with guns ablazin'! Ha-Ha!!
And, why not? If any action disregarding human life near or on the Strip was more horrendous then this one, I'm unaware of it. The problem is, as one commentor pointed out, it will take years and years to zap this miscreant. The two in the taxi died in seconds. Doesn't seem "fair" to me, somehow.
"Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said...would not rule out seeking the death penalty."
If the death penalty is "ruled out", Mr. Wolfson will likely join the unemployed ranks soon afterward.
Good job Metro! Now, let's see justice move along with speed equal to the manner in which you pursued this criminal.
this guy never should have been on the street again. his preious arrests wee enough to keep him in jail. why was he let go? just like somebody who is drunk and kills somebody while driving and was let go by previous dwi's . are legal system is messed up sometimes
Any book post odds on whether or not this scum gets the death penalty? It will 25 years til he dies anyway, justice is painfully slow!
Why bother ? People on death row in Nevada die of old age. What a joke.
If Wolfson can't get a capital murder conviction, he really needs to go.
The death penalty has ceased being a deterrent for criminals, and has become only a political tool for prosecutors.
GREAT JOB METRO AND ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT INVOLVED!!!!!!
I have been eagerly awaiting the news about the capture of this human excrement. This waste of skin deserves the death penalty.
The death penalty is for people just like him.
Now he is off the streets and we are supporting him at $40000 per year for the next how many years?
Hope they can find some assets and seez them.
The casinos do not want a long dirty laundry trial about thug-drug clubs, hookers and the like, so Wolfson is just playing games. Turn on the news every night America and see the dirty underbelly of Vegas? Not good for business is it. ??
No matter what anyone thinks of this guy, our justice system says he deserves a fair trial. Can he get one in Las Vegas? Based on the comments, perhaps not. I smell change of venue.
I think most of us are confident that it is likely he will be convicted of at least one murder. I don't know what's going to happen after that. A year from now, no one will remember the taxi driver's or his passenger's names. The killer's trial will be a short piece in the news. His attorneys will make a name for themselves. All will be back as it was. Pimps roaming in the community unscathed and continuing with business as usual. The murders will continue just a tad bit east and west of The Strip.
Might! Either you are or don't bother bringing up DEATH Penalty!