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Authorities arrested a third man late Wednesday in a fatal shooting last month at a Lee’s Discount Liquor store, after tips from the public led to the capture of two other suspects on Tuesday.
Lee Murry Sykes, 22, surrendered to detectives and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on counts including murder with a deadly weapon.
Metro Police had encouraged the suspect to turn himself in earlier Wednesday during in a news conference in which officers were said to be "hot on the trail" of the suspect.
On Tuesday, Lee Murry Sykes' alleged accomplices Ray Brown, 22, and Lee Dominic Sykes, 20, were taken into custody, Metro Police said.
When police caught up with Brown in the 1500 block of North Sandhill Road, he shielded himself with a young child as an officer pointed a gun at him, Metro Lt. Dan McGrath said at a news conference Wednesday.
Lee Dominic Sykes was taken in as he was driving away from the 3000 block of South Nellis Boulevard and getting on U.S. 95, he said.
Brown and Lee Dominic Sykes were booked at the Clark County Detention Center on counts including first-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary and robbery, according to jail logs.
They refused to talk to detectives, McGrath said. No weapons were found during police searches.
As of Wednesday afternoon, officers had expected an arrest of the third suspect within 24 hours, Metro Assistant Sheriff Tom Roberts said during the news conference.
Lee Murry Sykes is related to Lee Dominic Sykes, though information on the exact relationship was not immediately available.
"I urge you to turn yourself in," McGrath said in a message to Lee Murry Sykes. "Or we will find you."
McGrath noted that he sent the same message through acquaintances of Sykes and that detectives were waiting to talk to him.
Matthew Christensen, 24, of Las Vegas was gunned down “execution style” April 18 while working at the Lee’s Discount Liquor store at 8785 W. Warm Springs Road, near Durango Drive, police said.
Tuesday would have been his 25th birthday, McGrath said.
Three men — at least two of them armed — stormed the store about 9:45 p.m. They might have become frustrated when they couldn’t get into the store’s locked safe, and Christensen was shot as he held his hands in the air, police said.
Two other employees were working when the deadly attack took place, but nobody else was injured.
Police said Wednesday they received close to 150 tips about the robbery after releasing surveillance video showing the men entering the store. Two of those tips resulted in Tuesday’s arrests, McGrath said.
None of those calls were from family or close acquaintances of the suspects, he said.
Metro, with the assistance of the FBI, served five warrants with SWAT units, McGrath said. They were in custody within 24 hours of investigators finding out their locations.
A task force of about 75 to 80 law enforcement officers took part in the operation, McGrath said.
"Not one day we did not have a team of detectives working on this," he said.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo called the store owner after the two men were arrested and detectives called Christensen's parents as soon as they were placed in a holding cell, he said.
"The Las Vegas Valley today is a much safer place," Roberts said of the Tuesday arrests.
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