2 people shot in dispute over 61 cents, police say

A North Las Vegas man has been charged with shooting two people, leaving one on a ventilator, in what authorities said was a dispute over 61 cents.

Curtis Oneal Smith, 40, is charged with attempted murder and battery with use of a deadly weapon in connection with a shooting earlier this month near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North Alexander Road.

North Las Vegas police said in an arrest report for Smith that the shooting occurred on Aug. 11 after two men at a convenience store quarreled over a small amount of change.

Police said a man in line at the store borrowed 61 cents from another customer to cover a drink he was purchasing. Another man, known to witnesses as “Curt,” approached the borrower, asking why he “was always asking people for money,” the report stated.

The man known as Curt went to his car to retrieve a gun, police said, and then chased the borrower to a nearby apartment complex.

When bystanders tried to intervene, police said, a gunman shot a 59-year-old man in the leg. A 19-year-old man also was shot in the head and left in critical condition at University Medical Center.

“The bullet entered the top of his head and was lodged inside his skull near his ear,” police said. “He is currently on a ventilator and feeding tube.”

Police said multiple witnesses to the shooting identified Smith as the gunman. All of the events leading up to the shooting were also captured on video surveillance, police said.

Detectives said Smith told them during an interview that he was the shooter, and that he became upset during the dispute because he felt disrespected.

“He said he made a mistake and wished he could take it back,” police quoted Smith as saying.

Smith was housed at the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday afternoon. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 6 in North Las Vegas Justice Court.

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.