Barbara Privett was told Summerlin was an ideal place to raise a family when she moved in seven years ago. 

Now, Privett is mourning the loss of her 15-year-old son, Christopher, an honor student who was killed Friday in a drive-by shooting near Palo Verde High School.

Las Vegas police arrested a 16-year-old Palo Verde sophomore early Saturday.

He was booked in the Clark County juvenile detention center on one charge of murder with a deadly weapon, three counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and four counts of firing a weapon from a moving vehicle.

The triggerman was traveling in a car with four other people at the time of the shooting: two female students at Palo Verde and two young men who never attended the school.

Privett said she believes she no longer can allow her 16-year-old son, Alex, to walk home from school.
   
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

In the story, Efforts in Denison Case Turn to Capturing Suspect, Jordan and Audrey Denison remember their cousin and discuss their pain of losing her. Efforts have been made to help the family and in turn, they’re trying to do their part to help others who have missing family members. Do you have anything you would like to add?

Two vigils were held over the weekend for the 14-year-old Palo Verde High School student who was killed on Friday.

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Friends say he was on the football team and in the band. He was shot and killed while walking with a group of friends. Police say it appears the group was targeted, and police are still investigating a possible motive.

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes released the following statement:

“I'm outraged and saddened at the loss this kind of senseless act causes. The families of all those involved will be greatly affected, especially the family of the student we lost. While I'm grateful that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has again acted quickly and effectively to apprehend the shooter, prevention is more important than enforcement to counter this problem.

“The recent rash of school and university random shootings, as well as 'drive-by shootings' like the student from Palo Verde High School, represent a complex problem with no easy answers. Given the access to weapons and the relentless portrayal of violence in the entertainment industries, there are no easy remedies to counter this growing problem.

“I believe the reoccurrence of this kind of tragedy reiterates the need for more trenchant attention and support for our young population and their needs.”

A 16-year-old suspect has been arrested over the weekend. The suspect is facing one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder and four counts of discharging a firearm from a vehicle — all felonies.

If you have any information on these shootings, you are asked to call CrimeStoppers at 385-5555.

A Palo Verde High School student is dead after a shooting near the campus. It happened near Alta and Town Center, just down the street from the school.

Metro detectives say several students were walking east on Alta, about 100 yards from Palo Verde, when investigators said a silver car heading east with fired shots at a group of students walking down the sidewalk. One 9th grade boy was shot and killed.

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Detectives with Metro Homicide and Gang Crimes examined the street. At this point Metro can't say if this was gang related.

They also don't have a clear description of the car, except that it was a small, silver vehicle.

Read the Clark County Homicide Report

Metro has placed the witnesses into Palo Verde High to get statements. They still have a lot of information to collect.

“Obviously we have a large police presence in the area. We are doing everything we can to identify the suspects in this. We are canvassing the area,” said Randy Montandon with Metro.

Metro detectives can not say if the victim was the intended target, or what the motive behind the shooting was.

This is one of two shootings that occurred near Clark County schools on Friday afternoon.

Metro is also investigating another shooting that happened around the same time near Whitney Elementary School in the southeast part of the valley.

Police say the victim caught a juvenile who allegedly vandalized his property. The two began to fight, and the teenager pulled out a gun and fired.

The man was shot in the stomach and is at UMC in critical condition.

Metro Officer Jose Montoya says you should never confront a suspect because you never know what they are capable of, “So that's one of the reasons we tell people not to confront them. A very simple thing, a minor tagging, can lead to something tragic.”

People who saw the incident were able to subdue the teen until police arrived.

Eyewitness News will have the latest.

Three schools were on lock down Thursday after a drive-by shooting. It happened just before noon in the northwest part of the valley. Two people were shot. Metro officers are still on the scene gathering evidence.

The two victims were shot on the sidewalk at the corner. Witnesses say a white car came around the corner following one of the victims. The people inside the car were shooting.

Francisco Esparra ducked behind his car when he heard the shots. “When I started seeing that way, I saw an arm with a gun in the hand and they shoot six times that way.”

This was moving day for Esparra, who was loading his car up with boxes. The shooting may have ended on his street. It started one block away on Howard Dade Avenue.

Eyewitness News talked with some of the people being shot at. They had just pulled into their driveway when the white car drove up. The victims say someone in the white car started shooting and the four friends in a red Cadillac ran in different directions.

One of them twisted his ankle. Another one was followed down the street where he was shot in the leg. Another man walking on the sidewalk at the wrong time also got shot in the leg.

Aaron Peasall heard at least 12 shots and then brought the victims water until help arrived.

“There was 6 shots. The guy came out of his house, I guess. Then there were six more,” said Peasall.

Thanks to a good description of the car and license plate from witnesses, Metro stopped it at Gowan and Rancho. Four people were put into handcuffs and taken in for questioning. No arrests have been made yet.

At this point one of the victims returned home. The second one we are told by friends will survive. Both were shot in the leg.

Email your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.

A teenage girl is dead after a rollover accident on U.S. 95 at Durango. The crash happened as a group of teens were heading back to the valley from Mt. Charleston.

The crash happened just before 6 a.m. on Wednesday. The Nevada Highway Patrol says four people were in the vehicle when the driver lost control.

All four people were hospitalized. The girl later died from her injuries. Authorities are investigating if drugs or alcohol may have been factors.

A local neighborhood has been left victimized with numerous cars vandalized and the thieves still on the loose. One man counted 10 cars that were hit in just two nights.

Neighbors say it's been a crime spree they can't believe. Many thought their cars and homes would be safe because of their community's security gate. It's designed to keep the trouble out, but the iron bars proved to be nothing more than a false sense of security.

For the last few weeks, David Hayes and many of his neighbors have come under attack.

“Somebody broke into my truck stole the stereo tools I had behind the seat,” he said.

The brazen thieves strike under the cover of night. The owner of the truck said they didn't break any windows or cause any other damage. Their targets were set and tuned in on the radio.

“Left change in the glove box — left CD's on the seat,” said Hayes.

All these neighbors could do was file a report but Metro officials say the culprits will be hard to find.

“They are a little more challenging to solve for many reasons like lack of physical evidence, no witness or people not willing to testify,” said Metro Officer Jose Montoya.

Montoya says sometimes victims make themselves easy targets. He's asking people to use common sense to protect their goods, “A property crime is a crime of opportunity. He will be in and out in less then 20 seconds. Don't make it easy for the guy to take it from you.”

But Metro say there is something you can do like locking your car doors and using the alarm.

Good advice that Ed McCormick hopes his neighbors will follow, “I made a flier and passed it out on Friday night to every house in the neighborhood.”

Metro says other neighborhoods should follow suit because it's so hard to catch these types of criminals. It's going to be up to you to get them before they get in your gate, get your goods and get out.

Email your comments to Reporter Travell Eiland

Students from Meadows High School are headed to Washington, D.C. to compete against the rest of country in the National Science Bowl Regional Competition.

Over the weekend, The Meadows beat out 31 other teams from Arizona, California, Utah, and here in Nevada.

The annual competition is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Other local teams that fared well — Palo Verde High School placed second and in third place was Coronado High School.

The Meadows will compete against other regional winners from around the country later this year.

In two separate incidents, students brought guns to high schools in the valley Monday morning. The guns were found just minutes apart at Arbor View and Desert Pines High Schools.

A 16-year-old girl was taken into custody at Desert Pines High School for having a loaded small caliber gun in her backpack.

Across town, a 16-year-old boy was arrested for the same thing – carrying a loaded gun in his backpack.

Eyewitness News tried to talk to the 16-year-old girl's father who was called to campus. He said his daughter did nothing wrong.

The man didn't want to stop for our cameras or give us his name, but it's his daughter who Clark County School District Police say had a loaded gun in her backpack Monday morning.

She was handcuffed and put into a squad car before being taken to Juvenile Hall. Police say she did not display the gun or threaten to use it on anyone.

Alberto Sablam picked up his son from campus Monday and learned of the potential danger his son was in. “You feel for their safety, they could have died. Then what? You wanna start crying.”

Lt. Ken Young with the Clark County School District Police says it's too soon to know if either incident is gang related. “The schools are not related as far as the incident. The officers are still investigating to see if there are any gang ties or any gang reference to this.”

Police are crediting the quick thinking of students at Desert Pines and Arbor View for telling administrators their classmates had guns on campus. Monday's findings bring the total number of firearms found on campus this year to 11.

Both students are being charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school property.

Email your comments to Reporter Chris Saldana.

Police say two meth-addicted thieves were operating a big burglary theft ring right under the noses of their neighbors in a southwest Las Vegas neighborhood.

Metro says Brandon Meyers and Rachel Gusman are finally behind bars after pulling off at least 17 smash and grab burglaries and home invasions in both the northwest and southwest parts of the valley.

It was a house on Uxbridge Road in the far southwest part of the valley where police say they recovered an estimated $50,000 worth of stolen property, vehicles, and guns.

Investigators served a search warrant on the residence Jan. 23 and recovered several hundred stolen items including electronics, tools, jewelry, recreational vehicles, and several guns as well.

Residents who live on the same street in this upscale neighborhood say they noticed a lot of activity at the house often in the middle of the night but didn't think it was anything more than annoying.

Police tell Eyewitness News this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as these two suspected thieves are concerned. But by the time they're done investigating, they'll likely be linked to dozens more residential burglaries.

The two face numerous charges including robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and burglary.

Metro says this is the biggest burglary theft ring they've busted in a long time. And now the painstaking process begins of trying to reunite all of this stolen property to its rightful owners.

Email your comments to Reporter Alyson McCarthy.