‘Person of interest’ detained in blast
Las Vegas police Thursday evening detained "a person of interest" in connection with the deadly bombing in the Luxor hotel parking garage.
The man was driving a green Mazda pickup when he was pulled over by police about 7 p.m. near the intersection of Pebble and Bermuda roads, police said.
Officer Bill Cassell, a police spokesman, said the man had been identified as a person of interest in the investigation of the Monday blast that killed Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio.
Officers, who believed the man might be in the area because he lives nearby, spotted the pickup and pulled the truck over, Cassell said. Police impounded the vehicle and planned to search it for evidence that could link the pickup to the bombing, he said.
Officers also served a search warrant on the man’s home in a hunt for clues.
The man, who was being questioned late Thursday, had outstanding arrest warrants for possessing false identification and documents, police said.
"This individual is going to be arrested, but not necessarily on charges related to" the Luxor bombing, Cassell said.
The arrest came after Las Vegas police called on the public earlier Thursday to help identify a mystery car linked to the bombing.
Investigators released several surveillance camera photos of a silver two-door car driving through the hotel parking garage hours before the blast.
Police believe whoever planted the small bomb on Antonio’s car was in the silver car, homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said.
Surveillance cameras captured the car entering the garage about 1:15 a.m. Monday. It moved slowly through the garage "as if searching for something" for a while before driving away, Roberts said.
The car returned at 2:38 a.m. and headed straight for Antonio’s black sedan. It parked next to his car for several minutes and drove away.
Police could not see anyone get out of the suspect car or place anything on Antonio’s car because of poor video quality, Roberts said.
Detectives believe finding the silver car is key to cracking the case.
Antonio, 24, was returning to his car about 4 a.m. Monday after working the night shift at Nathan’s Famous hot dog restaurant inside the Luxor, a 4,400 room hotel-casino at the south end of the Strip.
Antonio noticed an object on the roof of his car, and it exploded when he picked it up, police said.
Antonio died a short time later at University Medical Center. A female co-worker standing next to Antonio at the time of the blast was unharmed.
Detectives have focused their investigation on Antonio’s background, including whether the co-worker was Antonio’s girlfriend, Roberts said.
A cousin, Max Dorantes of Newport, Ore., characterized Antonio as a hardworking man who was in the United States illegally, worked two jobs, and had two girlfriends.
Dorantes said the Nathan’s co-worker was from Guatemala. He said a woman with whom Antonio had a son arrived in Las Vegas from Mexico about two weeks ago. The child remained with relatives in Mexico.
Both women have cooperated with police looking into the lives of Antonio’s family, friends and associates, Roberts said. "We need to find out who our victim is. We want to know if he had any enemies out of the country or enemies in this country."
Meanwhile, bomb fragments collected at the scene have been shipped to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lab in Walnut Creek, Calif., for more analysis. Police expect results in about a month.
Roberts wouldn’t say what police and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents learned about Antonio’s relationship with three illegal immigrants arrested at his house after the bombing.
Two men were from Mexico and one was from Guatemala, said Lori Haley an ICE regional spokeswoman in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Haley said the Guatemalan also was sought on a probation violation in Newport, Ore., where he was convicted of first-degree sexual assault.
The woman with whom Antonio worked at the hot dog stand also was in ICE custody, pending deportation to Guatemala, Haley said.
John L. Sullivan, who retired in 1995 after 34 years with the Metropolitan Police Department, said the bombing conjured memories of past bomb incidents, including mob hits and the Strip bomber.
The Strip bomber planted a series of bombs outside casinos in the early 1980s. "He created quite a panic," the former chief of detectives said.
The bombs never exploded and nobody was ever caught. Most people now believe they weren’t intended to do harm, but the thought of someone planting bombs was as scary then as it is now, he said.
"That’s the frightening thing, the person out there who acts out of random impulse," Sullivan said.
Detectives in the Luxor case don’t think they’re dealing with a random attack.
"The way the device was placed, the way it was detonated … leads us to believe he was the intended target," Roberts said.
Anyone with information about the suspect car or other aspects of the case can leave anonymous tips with Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or call homicide detectives at 828-3521.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
