One son killed, one hurt in raid

She said she didn’t understand why there was no mention of her 16-year-old son, Rayvon Wilkerson, who was shot five times during the incident at the apartment on Cheyenne Avenue, near Lamb Boulevard. “They didn’t mention my other son — again,” she said in her North Las Vegas home Tuesday afternoon.

Wilkerson was shot by police in the chest, stomach, groin, elbow and hand during the raid, Wheaton said. He was in critical condition at University Medical Center on Tuesday night, the hospital said.

“They shot my baby five times, and they took away my first born,” she said. “There is nothing to replace that.”

Early Tuesday morning, Las Vegas police Capt. James Dillon described for the media the SWAT raid and shooting death of Johnson.

A 12-year Metropolitan Police Department veteran shot and killed Johnson after he pointed a gun at officers as they were serving a drug-related search warrant at the Joshua Villas apartments, 3985 Cheyenne Ave, police said.

But Dillon did not mention Wilkerson during the media briefing.

Tuesday afternoon, Dillon said that he had not known the extent of Wilkerson’s injuries at the time of the briefing and that it was unclear whether the teen’s injuries were caused by officers’ bullets.

The shooting of Wilkerson is still under investigation. But, Dillon said, it appeared Wilkerson was standing close to Johnson during the incident.

Police shot a third suspect during the raid with a rubber bullet, 24-year-old Eric Williams. Authorities took Williams to a local hospital, where he was treated and then arrested on multiple charges.

Police confiscated guns, marijuana and rock cocaine from the apartment, Dillon said.

Jasmine Moffett, 16, said she was hanging out in front of the apartment with her 14-year-old sister and 16-year-old friend when she saw about 15 officers approach about 11:10 p.m. One officer shushed them and told them to get on the ground.

The officers then broke one of the apartment’s windows and threw two flash grenades inside the apartment, Moffett and the other girls said. She said she heard the police break down the door and identify themselves. She said she then heard multiple gunshots and a police officer yell for the people in the apartment to get down on the floor.

Immediately after the shooting, police pulled Wilkerson from the apartment but left Johnson inside, Moffett said.

Dillon said that Johnson was one of the “principals” in the investigation, initiated by the Downtown Area Command’s problem-solving unit.

It’s typical for the SWAT unit to serve narcotics-related warrants, Dillon said.

“We were dealing with individuals selling street-level narcotics, which is always associated with firearms,” he said. “The SWAT team serves (these warrants) because they are high-risk.”

Nicole James, who lives next door to the apartment where the raid took place, said she was at home with her three sons — ages 7, 4 and 1 — when she heard two loud booms next door. She then heard multiple gunshots.

She raced into a bedroom where her 7- and 4-year-old sons were sleeping. Only a wall separates her sons’ bedroom from the neighbor’s apartment, and she feared stray gunfire would hit her children.

She scooped up her sons and ran into a master bedroom on the other side of the apartment.

Referring to the Joshua Villas apartment complex as “the projects,” James said she was sick of the drug-dealing and now police shootings.

“Obviously I want to move. I want to get out of here. I have little kids,” the 27-year-old mother said.

Ladonna Ruffin, 16, was with Moffett on Monday night at the apartment complex. She questioned whether Johnson posed a threat to the officers and whether it was proper for the officers to surprise the suspects.

“If I was inside the apartment I’d be scared too — my window breaking, with smoke coming out. I don’t know what’s going on,” she said.

After the shooting, police arrested three others at the apartment complex and accused them of multiple crimes, including possession of marijuana with intent to sell, trafficking in cocaine and possession of stolen property. The suspects are 22-year-old Michael Moreland, 41-year-old Rudy Williams and 18-year-old T. Wayne Allen.

Wheaton said her sons had been arrested and charged with robbery about three years ago but had not been in trouble since then.

A woman named Nuchelle, who identified herself as Johnson’s and Wilkerson’s godmother, said the brothers were involved in drugs but did not deserve to die or get shot.

“He never did anything to anyone,” she said of Johnson.