Vegas - What kind of cab bursts into flames?

[GWN7]

Las Vegas (CNN) -- A shooting and a fiery crash left three people dead in the neon heart of the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, and police scrambled to find out who triggered the carnage.

The bloodshed closed the Strip for about a block and a half around some of its biggest draws, leaving tourists gaping at a wrecked Maserati, a burned-out taxi and four other vehicles.

"First time in Vegas, and then, like, the whole thing, what you know from movies only -- I was shocked," Christine Gerstenberger, who was visiting the desert gambling mecca from Germany, said Thursday afternoon. She and her brothers debated going back to the hotel "because I'm totally scared," but "We're too curious," she said.

See iReporter's video of fire

Four of the city's biggest casinos -- Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo -- are nearby, and police collected surveillance-camera video from them to help the probe.

It started around 4:20 a.m. with a dispute in the valet lot of the Aria Hotel, about a block away, Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said. Investigators haven't confirmed the cause of the altercation, but he said it spilled onto the street as someone in a black Range Rover Sport fired several shots at the Maserati as it headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard.

When the driver was hit, the Maserati continued into the intersection of the boulevard and Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, which caught fire. The sports car's driver, the cab driver and a passenger in the taxi all died; a passenger in the Maserati and three other people in the resulting pileup were hurt, Gillespie said.

The Maserati's passenger and other witnesses are helping detectives piece together what happened, he said. And the "top priority" for police is to find the Range Rover, which sped away from the intersection, and those inside it when the shooting happened.

"This act is totally unacceptable, and we are going to make a very clear message to these individuals in regards to that," Gillespie said.

Police in neighboring states have been asked to look for the sport-utility vehicle, and Gillespie warned the occupants should be considered armed and dangerous.

"Clearly, the suspects have no regard for the lives and safety of others," he said.

The Range Rover had an out-of-state dealer plate, tinted windows and large, black rims, Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said.

The block around the crash remained closed off into Thursday afternoon. John Lamb, who was inside Caesars Palace, told CNN affiliate KLAS he heard the commotion and saw the taxi on fire from a window.

"There was a loud bang, and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ... and could see the fireball," he told KLAS.


Three dead after shooting, fiery crash on Las Vegas Strip - CNN.com

[fingpilot]

An innocent cab caught fire,

The really guilty cabs never catch fire in Las Vegas.

[jyl]

Any vehicle can catch fire if the fuel tank, filler hose, or fuel lines are damaged. Those components are placed in protected locations, to the extent possible, but stuff happens. I worked on lots of fuel fire cases back when. All sorts of vehicles were involved - big, little, car, truck.

[Gogar]

Did someone say "Gun?" This wouldn't have happened if there were no guns.

[craigster59]

I know this is morbid, but I wonder if the passenger in the cab had been lucky at the tables all night and was finally leaving the casino with a huge wad of cash and a big change of luck.

[RWebb]

surprising thing is that the Range Rover did not suffer an electrical failure and was able to speed away

[aigel]

Crown Vics are infamous for gas tank fires when rear-ended. There are kits sold to help prevent this IIRC. But it sounds more like there was a head-on?

Not good promo for LV. The strip is a pretty harmless place to stroll down - if you have gunfights and car chases, people will start staying away.

G

[rusnak]

pretty sure that cab was running on propane

[bivenator]

Article that I read stressed that the cab was not propane driven.

[ossiblue]

Google "Ford Pinto" and you'll see how easy a car can catch fire if the fuel tank/filler tube is breached.

[GWN7]

From the video it's not a Crown Vic nor a Pinto. The cab was struck on the passenger side. It almost looks like it was a mini van.

31 years as a firefighter and I've been to probably over a 1000 MVA's and not one caught on fire as a result of a accident.

[GWN7]

Mike Boldon, 62, was killed early Thursday morning when the Maserati driven by aspiring rapper Kenneth Cherry Jr. slammed into his cab.

Cherry lost control when he was hit by gunfire from a black Range Rover as the two vehicles drove on the Las Vegas Strip, Metro Police said. The car crashed into the taxi, killing Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas, and a passenger in the taxi, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash.

Cherry also was killed and a passenger in his car injured.

Police believe the shooting occurred after a verbal altercation between Cherry and Ammar Harris, 26, at the Aria casino valet area.

Police have obtained a warrant charging Harris, who is still at large, with three counts of murder.


Read more: Family remembers taxi driver killed in fiery Las Vegas Strip crash - Las Vegas Sun News

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by craigster59

I know this is morbid, but I wonder if the passenger in the cab had been lucky at the tables all night and was finally leaving the casino with a huge wad of cash and a big change of luck.

Dead passenger in the cab was a respected business owner and community leader in Maple Valley, Wa...Near my old house...

[rouxroux]

Was there a drummer from "Spinal Tap" in the vehicle? That would explain it....(But then again, one choked to death on vomit...someone else's)

[daepp]

I too heard it was compressed gas.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Did someone say "Gun?" This wouldn't have happened if there were no guns.

I was thinking something similar, only that it wouldn't have happened if there were no rappers.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Dead passenger in the cab was a respected business owner and community leader in Maple Valley, Wa...Near my old house...

More about her here:

Wrong place, wrong time, tragic end for innocent soul
http://www.****.com/news/wrong-place-wrong-time-tragic-end-for-innocent-soul-193792981.html

But this high-energy, can-do woman - a wife and mother of three who helped her husband run a plumbing business and co-owned a women's clothing store - died not from cancer, but from the stupidity of two pimps.
The two, apparently trying to outmacho each other, had been at a rap concert at the Aria and had exchanged words at the valet.
While driving, one pimp - Ammar Harris - allegedly shot another - Kenneth Cherry Jr. - setting off a deadly chain of events that ended with three deaths.

Cherry, 27, died, while an unidentified passenger in his car survived.

Cherry's Maserati slammed into a cab driven by Michael Boldon, 62. Boldon's only passenger was Sutton-Wasmund, 48.
She and Boldon were innocent victims - wrong place, wrong time - who did nothing to cause the crash, but could do nothing to avoid it, as the cab exploded instantaneously into a ball of fire.

Sutton-Wasmund and Leih Mulvihill, co-owners of The Dazzled Dame in Maple Valley, had flown to Las Vegas on Feb. 17 to look at clothing lines at a trade show at the Rio. They planned to fly out Feb. 21.

[john70t]

Methane(CNG), or any flammable substance in an I.C.E., will have the same consequence.

Sewer systems have combusted due to gas buildup: Sewer Fires In Omaha… | ROCK 97.9

Public projects are run off it: CSU diverts tons of food-hall slop to trap methane - SFGate
"This pilot project, if it works, is seen as having huge potential. Americans dump an estimated 34 million tons of food waste a year into landfills, occupying 14 percent of the space, second only to paper."

[LakeCleElum]

A 27 year old Rapper, Pimp driving a Maserati that had no plates on it....All sounds legit to me........