South Lake Tahoe Man Shot by Unidentified Assailant

On Sunday night, June 17th, 2012 at 11:30 pm, South Lake Tahoe Police officers responded to the area of 6201 Sussex Avenue to investigate an attempted murder by firearm. When officers arrived, they discovered a 19-year-old male victim lying wounded in a residential driveway. The man was alive but suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses in the neighborhood explained that a suspect, described only as a white male adult, drove into the area in a light colored SUV vehicle. The suspect spotted the victim standing outside around the property. The suspect got out of his vehicle with a shotgun, and approached the victim on foot. When the victim recognized the danger he attempted to run away, but the suspect began shooting at him. A window of an uninvolved neighbor was shot out during the suspect’s attempt to shoot the victim. The victim was struck with at least one shotgun blast to the back side of his body as he attempted to take cover under a vehicle. Several shotgun pellets struck the victim in the back of his head, among other regions of his body.

Expended shotgun casings left at the crime scene indicate the suspect fired bird shot; which is not designed to penetrate deeply unless discharged at extremely close ranges. Although the victim sustained serious injuries, they were not considered life threatening. Based upon the emergency need to get the victim to medical assistance and his difficulty speaking to first responding officers, immediate details of the relationship between the men and motive were not clear. The victim was flown to a Reno medical facility for treatment of his injuries. Detectives responded and continue to gather information at this time.

Further details will follow upon the development of the investigation.