More charges filed against suspects in Luxor bombing

New charges were filed Thursday against two men accused of killing a Luxor employee using a car bomb in the casino’s parking garage.

Porfirio Duarte Herrera and Alexander Perez, also known as Omar Rueda-Denvers, appeared in Justice Court via a closed-circuit television from the jail as attorneys set a preliminary hearing date for June 26.

Perez and Duarte Herrera are accused of killing Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, a Mexican immigrant who worked at a restaurant inside the Luxor. The 24-year-old was killed in the May 7 explosion in the casino’s parking garage.

A woman had accompanied Dorantes Antonio to the car, but she was not injured in the blast. Still, Perez and Duarte Herrera face attempted murder charges.

Prosecutor Nell Keenan submitted an amended criminal complaint against Duarte Herrera, adding four felony charges against him related to a car bomb that blew up a Home Depot employee’s truck on Halloween. No one was hurt in that blast, but Duarte Herrera is facing additional charges of attempted murder, malicious destruction of property, possession of an explosive or incendiary device and manufacturing of an explosive.

Police have said Duarte Herrera and another man, known only as Antonio, randomly chose a 2006 Dodge Ram pickup in the Home Depot parking lot at 1401 S. Lamb Blvd., near Charleston Boulevard.

Duarte Herrera told authorities that he chose the target at random and did not know the vehicle’s owner, Ryan Wallace.

Authorities believe Duarte Herrera also constructed the bomb for Perez, a Guatemalan immigrant who once dated Dorantes Antonio’s girlfriend and had a child with her.

Police are investigating the true identity of Perez, who pleaded guilty this month to having a false identification and was originally booked under the name Omar Rueda-Denvers.

In addition to the murder charge they both face, Keenan added a felony charge of transporting an explosive because authorities believe they both drove the weapon to the Luxor garage.

Police say the suspects hid the bomb inside a cup and placed it on the victim’s vehicle. It exploded when Dorantes Antonio picked up the cup after he got off work about 4 a.m.

A justice of the peace appointed defense attorney Pete Christiansen on Thursday to represent Perez. Deputy special public defenders Clark Patrick and Charles Cano are representing Duarte Herrera.

The defendants are being held at the Clark County Detention Center on no bail.