On September 2 at around 6 a.m., Sparks Police responded to a hit-and-run call around Marina Gateway Drive and East Lincoln, near the new Legends Bay Casino. When the officers arrived, they found the 71-year-old pedestrian who had been struck by a vehicle and he was immediately transported to Renown with serious injuries.
Shortly after, an employee from Legends Bay Casino called to say that a carjacking had just occurred in its parking lot. Two people were in their vehicle when a man came up to them, opened the driver’s door, and forced the two occupants in the backseat of the car at gunpoint. With the two hostages, the suspect drove recklessly toward Sparks Boulevard while firing shots at random vehicles and then turned and headed westbound, eventually stopping on Marina Gateway Drive. The hostages were able to escape and called 911 from the casino.
Meanwhile, the suspect got back into the stolen car, confronted a man walking in the area, and drove northbound on Marina Gateway into southbound lanes of traffic. He veered onto a sidewalk, hitting the man that he had the verbal altercation with, thus knocking him to the ground and causing serious injuries.
Later that afternoon, detectives were able to apprehend 24-year-old suspect and Sparks resident Moises Portillo-Perez in Downtown Reno and took him into custody. He was booked into the Washoe County Jail for armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and battery with a deadly weapon.
Legends Bay Casino cancelled its first Fireworks Friday show that evening, but it said that it was due to expected winds and the subsequent Red Flag Warning.
Sparks Police could not be reached for comment regarding these incidents at the time of publication.