Dennis RomeroUpdated below. First posted at 1:58 p.m.
See also:
Crazy Vegas Strip Car-To-Car Shooting Involving Maserati Ends With 3 Dead.
When ultra-violence broke out on the Las Vegas Strip one week ago we had a feeling the investigation would somehow lead to Los Angeles.
It did. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department today said 26-year-old Ammar Harris was arrested in Las Angeles.
He's the suspect they allege pulled the trigger, causing …
… the death of aspiring rapper Kenneth Cherry and killing a cab driver and a passenger when Cherry's Maserati collided with the taxi and sparked a deadly blaze.
Both the LAPD and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department this afternoon said they were unaware of the arrest and were looking into it.
Sheriff's inmate booking data showed no record of a man by Harris' name being booked.
Credit: Harris via Las Vegas Metro police
Officer Bill Cassell of Las Vegas Metro police said any arrests would be made known through local media and that we should rely on those reports.
Minutes after our conversation with him the Las Vegas Review-Journal posted a story about the arrest.
Likewise, the Las Vegas Sun says Harris was arrested about noon at the North Hollywood Studio City residence of an “associate.”
The car-to-car shooting in the middle of the Strip early Thursday appeared to follow a dispute between a suspect and Cherry at the valet stand outside the Aria hotel, police said.
[Warning: NSFW language]:
[Added at 3:23 p.m.]: Las Vegas police confirmed the arrest in a statement sent to the Weekly and other outlets.
On February 28, 2013 the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was notified that the suspect Ammar Harris was taken into custody in North Hollywood California by the Los Angeles based Criminal Apprehension Team. Harris was arrested without incident and will be transported to the LAPD Metro Detention Center to await extradition proceedings.
Las Vegas Sheriff Doug Gillespie was scheduled to hold a news conference on the arrest at 4 p.m.
The LAPD confirmed the collar, telling us Harris was indeed arrested in North Hollywood Studio City. An official said the arrest might have involved an LAPD-FBI task force.
[Update at 4:53 p.m.]: In a news conference today Las Vegas officials said Harris quickly left the area after the alleged crime. Authorities, according to a detective, “had an idea where he was,” namely North Hollywood Studio City.
The Clark County District Attorney's office charged Harris with 11 counts related the shooting and deaths, including three counts of murder and one of attempted murder as well as related allegations of shooting a gun into and out of a vehicle.
That according to the criminal complaint obtained by the Weekly.
Prosecutors alleged that Harris pursued his victims before opening fire. The passenger in Cherry's Masarati was identified in the document as Freddy Walters.
Ammar Harris Criminal Complaint by
[Added at 5:10 p.m.]: The L.A. County District Attorney's office announced early this evening that Harris was due in Superior Court downtown about 10 a.m. Monday for a “fugitive warrant” hearing.
[Added at 5:23 p.m.]: L.A. County Sheriff's Department inmate information reveals that Harris, 26, was arrested at noon and booked 1:54 p.m.
The suspect was being held by the LAPD's Jail Division without bail, according to the data.
Meanwhile, various reports, citing Harris' now-defunct social media pages, say the suspect boasted that he was a pimp.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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