Shooter in Saturday homicide also wanted in string of Las Vegas Valley robberies

A man wanted since the start of the year for brazenly robbing several east valley businesses at gunpoint is the same man wanted for killing a man and injuring a waitress Saturday at an east valley bar, Las Vegas police said Monday.

“We need your help,” Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Dan McGrath said during a media briefing Monday. “We have an escalation of violence that is a serious concern for everyone in the community. We have concerns that he could commit a robbery tonight. He is armed, he is dangerous, and he has a propensity for violence. We need to get him off the street.”

Police believe the same man committed all the crimes because of surveillance footage, physical evidence and the firearm used. In at least two of the robberies, the suspect fired at least one round.

“Unfortunately for us, our fears about this person’s violence continuing came to fruition this weekend,” Metro robbery Lt. Jack Clements told reporters Monday.

The Saturday morning homicide at the OK Corral bar, 1602 N. Nellis Blvd., was not a robbery, police said. A man originally entered the bar about 6 a.m. with a woman and danced for about an hour, surveillance footage shows.

But after a brief confrontation with another bar patron, the man walked the woman out to his car, parked his car around the block and walked back inside the bar with a gun at about 7 a.m.

In less than a minute, the man unloaded several rounds, shooting and killing the man with whom he had the confrontation, Alberto Sanchez-Delatorre, 24. During the spray of gunfire, the shooter also shot a waitress, whose injuries were not life-threatening.

The robberies mostly happened at fast-food restaurants, though at least one robbery happened at an east valley computer store.

During the computer store robbery, the robber fired at least seven rounds as he ran away. No one was injured, but at least one of those rounds went through a store employee’s hoodie, Clements said.

“He has no problem whatsoever shooting off a gun, which makes him extremely dangerous,” Clements said of the robber. “He doesn’t care what he shoots at, who he shoots at. He doesn’t care.”

The robber is described as a thin Hispanic man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 150 pounds and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. He also has a ponytail and prescription glasses.

The morning of the homicide, he was wearing white cowboy boots and driving a middle-to-late ’90s Mercury Grand Marquis.

Police are also looking for the woman he was with before the Saturday homicide. She had dark hair, stood a few inches shorter than the suspect and was wearing a red dress.

“We don’t have her involved in any of the crimes,” McGrath said. But since she was at the scene and seemed to know the man, police would like to talk with her.

Anyone with information about the shooter, his car or the woman he was with may call the Metro homicide unit at 702-828-3521.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.