Victim’s brother perplexed

The brother of a man who was killed by a homemade bomb at the Luxor parking garage early Monday said he doesn’t know why anyone would want to harm the new father who worked two jobs to support his young family.

“We have no idea who would do this,” Miguel Dorante, brother of 24-year-old Willebaldo Dorante Antonio, said in Spanish Tuesday evening. “He (Antonio) was a father and a very hard worker.”

Dorante said his younger brother, who had been in the United States about three years, worked the night shift at Nathan’s Famous hot dogs inside the Luxor. He also had a day job at Quiznos inside Excalibur, Dorante said.

“He was working all the time.”

Antonio’s wife and 1-year-old son had recently traveled to Las Vegas from Puebla, Mexico, to be with him.

“They have only been here 15 days,” Dorante said.

Las Vegas police continued their search for Antonio’s killer Tuesday, aided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Investigators studied surveillance tapes from the garage and delved into Antonio’s background looking for clues and a suspect.

ATF agents tried to piece together the homemade bomb to figure out how it worked, Special Agent Nina Delgadillo said.

“It’s all part of the puzzle,” she said.

Agents also logged the bomb components into a national database to see if a similar device has been used elsewhere, she said.

Antonio was killed Monday morning, after shrapnel from the bomb penetrated his head during the blast, the Clark County coroner’s office said.

Antonio and a fellow worker left the Luxor about 4 a.m. and walked to Antonio’s car, which was parked on the second floor of the two-story garage behind the hotel.

The bomb was sitting atop Antonio’s car, and when he moved it, it exploded. He was rushed to University Medical Center, where he died. The woman with him was unhurt despite standing about four feet away, authorities said.

Police believe Antonio was the intended target of the blast.

ATF Special Agent Tom Mangan said the bomb produced a blast about the size of a stick of dynamite. It blew a 12-inch hole in Antonio’s car and peppered neighboring vehicles with shrapnel, he said. He declined to describe what investigators had learned about the device.

“There is a degree of risk to the bomb-maker,” said Mangan, a senior ATF agent based in Phoenix. “There is a level of sophistication to the person researching this, buying the components and putting them together.”

Antonio’s family spent Tuesday trying to arrange for his body to be sent home to his native Mexico for burial.

Jose Meza, president of the Association of Poblano Immigrants, said his organization will help the family pay to ship the body to Puebla, Mexico, near Mexico City.

The organization works with the Mexican Consulate to help foreign families in such situations.

Meza said it will cost at least $5,000 to ship the body.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.