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When we think about drive by shootings, we usually picture
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gangs or the devastating final scene from the movie Menace
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to Society. We don't picture police officers. But on December
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twenty eighth, nineteen ninety six, a twenty one year old
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Las Vegas man named Daniel Mendoza was standing outside his
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apartment near Flamingo in Paradise when a pickup truck pulled
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into the parking lot. Moments later, six shots were fired.
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Daniel Mendoza was dead.
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At first, it looked like another gang related killing in
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a city that was experiencing one of the most violent
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years in its history. But within days the city would
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discover something almost impossible to believe. The men inside the
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truck weren't rival gang members. They were Las Vegas Metro
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police officers.
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Hi and Welcome to Sins and the Survivors, a Las
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Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on missing persons,
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unsolved cases, and domestic violence. I'm your host Sean and
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I'm your co host John. If you are a regular listener,
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you'll know that today's episode falls a little bit outside
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of our typical scope. But this is a story we
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both feel incredibly passionate about covering, because while the legal
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system might technically consider this case solved, the question of
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whether justice was actually served remains entirely open. And this
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story forces us to look at a dark piece of
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Las Vegas history that reshaped how our city is policed
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to this very day.
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To understand how two off duty police officers sworn to
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protect this city could end up pulling into a residential
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neighborhood in search of what they called fun, we have
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to zoom out a bit. We have to look beyond
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the mega resort era of construction along the Las Vegas
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Strip and look at the brutal truth of what life
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was like in this city. During the mid nineteen nineties, nationwide,
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a wave of high profile violence and gang warfare was
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gripping the American psyche, creating panic over a perception that
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urban crime was completely out of control and the entire
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country was sliding into lawlessness. This was the era of
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the violent crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of nineteen
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ninety four, the largest crime bill in US history. This
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legislation changed the landscape of American justice and is often
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cited as the catalyst for the mass incarceration rates we
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see today. The bill authorized funding nearly one hundred thousand
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new police officers nationwide, provided nearly ten billion dollars for
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prison construction, and established the federal three strikes rule. The
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national policy in response to the panic was clearly more cops,
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more arrests, locking up the bad guys, and throwing away
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the key.
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During this same era, Las Vegas was experiencing a historic
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boomtown explosion. The population of Clark County had become one
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of the fastest growing metro areas in the United States.
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The population ballooned from roughly seven hundred and seventy thousand
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residents in nineteen ninety to over one point one million
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by nineteen ninety six, and would eventually double to over
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one point four million by the year two thousand. The
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valley wasn't just growing, it was transforming almost overnight. New
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neighborhoods seemed to appear in the desert every month, and
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tens of thousands of new residents were arriving each year,
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drawn by construction jobs, casino work, no income tax, low
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cost of living, and the promise of opportunity. Numerous times
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on the podcast, we've talked about how many people move
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here seeking a fresh start and a second chance. However,
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the city's infrastructure struggled to keep up. The runaway growth
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drained the entire social fabric to a dangerous level. Schools
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were overcrowded, roads lagged behind development, the animal shelters were filled,
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and law enforcement was stretched thin. It's no surprise that fear,
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along with the crime rate, spiked. In nineteen ninety six,
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FBI statistics showed that Las Vegas had a mass of
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surge and violent crime, but it had the lowest rate
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of clearing those crimes with an arrest among major US cities.
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The Las Vegas Metro Police Department was simply unable to
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keep up with the growth and the violence. Nineteen ninety
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six became a historic, terrifying record year, as the valley
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experienced an unprecedented one hundred and sixty nine homicides, one
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of which was the high profile murder of wrapper Iupac Shakur.
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The per capita murder rate skyrocket to a staggering fifteen
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per hundred thousand people. To put that in perspective, that
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per capita rate is four times what it is for
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the Las Vegas Valley today. Last year, Las Vegas, North,
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Las Vegas, and Henderson combined recorded one hundred and forty
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two homicides for a population of nearly three million people.
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The panic about gangs and street violence that had gripped
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much of America was also firmly rooted in Las Vegas.
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If you asked many people in Las Vegas during the
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mid nineties why crimes seemed to be spiraling out of control,
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the answer often pointed West. Locals were writing letters to
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the editor complaining about the Californication of Nevada, blaming warring
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gangs from the LA area for flooding into Las Vegas
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for the crime wave that the city was experiencing. In
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that environment, stereotypes flourished, and aggressive policing was more or
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less demanded by local residents and businesses. We'll add that
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these stereotypes persist, and thirty years later, we've often heard
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the euphemism California people being used in the context of
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things like theft, violence, or even just reckless driving. Newspaper coverage,
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public statements, and legislative testimony from that era reveal a
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common theme. California was frequently blamed for Nevada's crime problems. Residents, politicians,
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and law enforcement officials warned that Los Angeles gangs, transient populations,
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and newcomers fleeing California were bringing violence and drugs into
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the valley and overwhelming local resources. Whether those fears were accurate, exactly, gradated,
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or somewhere in between, they shaped how crime was understood
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and how it was policed. The perception was that violence
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was being imported into Las Vegas from somewhere else, and
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that fuel demands for tougher enforcement and a more aggressive
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police presence and neighborhoods that were already struggling with poverty
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and crime. Ongoing issues of racism, over policing, harassment, and
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brutality worsened. The American West ultimately reached a breaking point.
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In nineteen ninety two, riots broke out in Los Angeles
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following the Rodney King verdict, and West Las Vegas's ongoing
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unrest erupted into its own fiery riot. Armed gun battles
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broke out just seven miles from the Strip a teenager
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was killed, and the city had to deploy the Nevada
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National Guard and even used school buses as blockades under
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the I fifteen overpass to keep the unrest from reaching
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the casino corridor. The New York Times reported that local
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residents felt that the police were simply backing off and
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letting minority neighborhoods self destruct, while rioters went so far
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as the fire bomb of public library. Weeks later, the
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threat of random retaliatory street violence still lingered over the city.
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The californication and gang fears. The riot, the skyrocketing murder rate,
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and the passing of the crime bill converged and led
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to an aggressive, accelerated hiring blitz for new officers within
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the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. With the valley expanding
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rapidly and new casinos going up along the strip under
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the new Family Friendly Vegas persona, the department was under
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immense pressure to get people in uniform and get the
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violence under control, and to take advantage of that new
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federal funding. The focus was outward when crime was being
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imported from somewhere else. The solutions seemed obvious and in
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line with the national sentiment. The answer was more officers,
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tougher enforcement, and a more aggressive response.
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On the streets.
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But while Metro was focused on the dangers that believed
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were coming from outside the valley, warning signs closer to
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home were easier to miss. Some of those warning signs
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were already wearing a badge.
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The challenge for the department became finding qualified officers quickly
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enough to keep pace with a city that seemed to
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be growing by the day. As Metro raced to expand
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its ranks, questions about hiring, standards, training, and oversight would
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soon follow. It was right in the thick of this chaotic,
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fast tracked recruitment push that Ron Mortensen was hired, a
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rookie who had quickly become the most controversial example of
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these concerns. Mortensen was born in nineteen sixty five. He
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is a un LV graduate who served in the U. S.
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Army and Nevada National Guard. Prior to Las Vegas Metro,
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he had no law enforcement experience. Instead, he worked as
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a club doorman and in casino hospitality. It seems that
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his path into law enforcement followed a familiar trajectory. He
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married his wife, Zoe, in nineteen ninety four and by
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the summer of nineteen ninety five, he applied to Metro,
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probably because he was hoping to leave behind the unpredictable
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hours and modest pay of casino room service and nightlife security.
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Like many recruits, he would have the opportunity for stability,
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a steady paycheck, benefits, and a long term career. According
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to reporting from Las Vegas Sun reporter Kathy Scott, Mortenson
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had also previously worked as a security guard at Dillard's,
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but was allegedly let go on suspicion of theft and
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relying on his job application, the Metro officer who reviewed
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Mortenson's employment history recommended against hiring him after reading performance
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evaluations that described him as aggressive and combative. That recommendation
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was ignored, and Mortenson joined the department anyway on August
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twenty ninth, nineteen ninety five, after a condensed academy and
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field training timeline. He was handed a badge and a gun.
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In nineteen ninety six, while Mortenson was navigating his first
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months as a rookie officer, Zoe gave birth to their daughter.
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At thirty one years old. He was a new husband,
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a new father, and a new homeowner, trying to build
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a life in Henderson. On the surface, he looked like
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exactly the kind of person Metro wanted to recruit, a
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veteran of FI, family man and a homeowner trying to
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build a stable future. But underneath that ordinary profile were
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warning signs about his temperament, honesty, and judgment that went
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unnoticed and were ultimately overlooked. One story reported in the
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Las Vegas Review Journal described an incident where Mortensen arrested
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a man named Ed Rothenberg for a dui. According to Ed,
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he had pulled over because he had a flat tire.
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It was in the early morning hours and still dark.
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He was standing entirely outside of his car when he
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was grateful and relieved to see a patrol car roll up,
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happy to have someone help him with his flat tire. However,
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Mortensen didn't help. He arrested Rothenberg. A judge later schoolded
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Mortensen because the alcohol lab tests on Ed were still
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pending at the time, and Mortensen tried to alter the
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dates on the legal documents. Ed was indeed drunk. That
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part is true, but Ed would emphasize that technically he
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was not driving at the time, so how could it
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be a dui? However, the larger issue here is more
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Sin's judgment and dishonesty with paperwork that the judge called out,
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which was at best troubling and at worst could be
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considered tampering with evidence in an effort to secure a
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false conviction. There were also larger systemic questions about the
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capacity and capability of the department itself. In hindsight, what
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ultimately happened on December twenty eighth, nineteen ninety six reflects
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a much broader challenge facing Las Vegas. In the mid
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nineteen nineties. Metro was struggling to police one of the
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fastest growing cities in America. The department needed officers, and
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it needed them quickly. As Metro concentrated on threats beyond
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the city limits, critics argue the department paid too little
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attention to problems developing within its own ranks. Metro expanded
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faster than its ability to properly vet recruits, train personnel,
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supervise misconduct, and root out corruption. As a result, the
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department struggled to hold officers accountable, and troubling behavior was
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allowed to persist until the consequences became impossible. To ignore
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that criticism as fair is debatable, but what is undeniable
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is that Ron Mortensen was hired concerns about his past
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were known. He made at least one documented judgment error
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during his short tenure, and eighteen months after he was hired,
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a young man named Daniel Mendoza was dead.
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Mortensen's partner, twenty four year old Christopher Patrick Brady, was
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the senior officer between the two. Despite his young age.
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Having been on the force for six years, Brady had
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grown up around Metro. His father, Mike Brady, was a
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legendary and well respected detective who had spent twenty seven
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years with the department, working in homicide and the Repeat
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Offenders Division. This relationship made Brady far more connected to
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the agency than the average young officer. He joined the
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force at age eighteen, and his entire adulthood up to
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this point had been influenced by the environment of the
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Metro Police Department, just as the city of Las Vegas
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had shaped him his entire life. The two of them
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worked out of the Southwest Command, which was an overworked
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precinct that was struggling under the crime wave. These two partners,
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Brady and Mortensen, were seemingly operating with little oversight in
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a department struggling to keep pace with a rapidly growing city.
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Based on what later emerged in court filings, press reports,
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and sworn testimony, some officers had begun viewing certain neighborhoods
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not as communities they served, but as places where the
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normal rules didn't apply. Evidence that later surface suggested a
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troubling culture in which some officers treated minority neighborhoods as
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targets for aggressive patrols, harassment, and provoked confrontations with suspected
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gang members while off duty. According to later testimony, this
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behavior was so commonplace among some officers that it had
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a name, fishing. Former Sergeant Ron Fox, who at one
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time was Christopher Brady's supervisor on the Southwest Area Command
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Bike Team, explained that he heard rumors about fishing. He
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explained that it was barroom talk and slang for off
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duty police officers getting drunk, driving into neighborhoods with high
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minority populations, finding reputed gang member, and actively instigating confrontations
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with them for fun. This federal lawsuit explicitly charged that
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senior officials within Metro knew this was happening and looked
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the other way. While Sergeant Fox repeated that they were
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just rumors. How widespread fishing was is unknown, but court
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records and newspaper reports showed that Brady and Mortensen were
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receiving complaints all their own. The record documents a pattern
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of troubling encounters during the six months they worked together,
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including at least two complaints alleging excessive horse and false arrest.
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In one egregious incident, the complaint alleged that they arrested
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an eighteen year old for merely possessing a pair of scissors.
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They claimed the teenager was overdosing, and the two officers
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forced hospital staff to tie him down and pump his
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stomach against his will. The medical tests came back completely negative,
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and the district attorney was forced to drop the charges
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due to a total lack of evidence. During a stop
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in early December nineteen ninety six, just three weeks before
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Daniel was killed, it's alleged that Brady kicked and choked
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a resident named Sergio Acosta, while Mortensen held a gun
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directly to the head of Acosta's friend. Acosta was then
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subjected to a forced drug test, which came back negative. However,
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he was held in jail for over a week, a
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traumatic ordeal that ultimately cost him his job. Looking back,
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the allegations involving Sergio Acosta seemed to foreshadow many of
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the same themes that would later emerge in the Mendoza case.
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Aggressive policing, questionable uses of authority, and officers who appeared
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increasingly comfortable operating without accountability. For critics of Metro, incidents
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like this also gave weight to the later allegations about fishing.
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Whether viewed as an isolated incident or part of a
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larger pattern, the Acosta encounter was a warning sign. Yet
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Brady and Mortensen remained partners, and there is little indication
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that anyone in Metro intervened before the events of December
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twenty eighth, nineteen ninety six. This is a good place
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to pause for a quick break, and when we return,
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we're going to shift our focus back to Daniel Mendoza,
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the person who is at the center of one of
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Las Vegas' most controversial homicide cases.
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While this toxic culture was festering inside the police department,
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an entirely different story was unfolding in a rough neighborhood
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just north of UNLV. This was the world of the
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Mendoza family. The Mendozas lived in what them and their
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friends called the Barrio, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, rich in
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culturing community, but like many working class neighborhoods in the
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Las Vegas area, the area was under resourced. Families often
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faced challenges from low wages, drug or substance use disorders,
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isolation due to language barriers or lack of transportation, and,
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as we mentioned earlier, over policing. The Mendozas had come
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to Las Vegas from Mexicali, Mexico. When Daniel was only fifteen,
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his mother died. His father, Ramone, was a widower who
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worked exhausting overnight shifts waxing floors and office buildings, raising
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his children on his own with help from his mother,
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Maria Uria. Daniel worked two jobs to help out, and
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according to his father, he was a dreamer who wanted
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nothing more than to finish high school, save his money
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and help support his family. He was focused on his future.
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He was engaged to his girlfriend, Carmen Sosa, and the
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two planned to get married in August of nineteen ninety seven.
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To the police department and in many of the early
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media reports, Daniel was simply labeled a gang member, a
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description that his family felt reduced an entire life to
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a stereotype and ignored the complexity of who he fully was.
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Based on what we read, Daniel's story isn't nearly that simple,
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and like all human beings, Daniel could not be defined
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by a single label. There is, however, little debate about
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whether he was an associate of gang members and people
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with a criminal history. Newspaper accounts reported that just days
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after his death, dozens of the members of a local
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Eighteenth Street gang gathered alongside a Catholic priest at McKellar
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Circle to pray for Daniel and mourn his loss. Las
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Vegas Review Journal columnist John L. Smith walked the barrio
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just hours after them. He noted that while Daniel's friends
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didn't deny their affiliation with the Eighteenth Street Gang, they
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fiercely defended Daniel's character. His family and friends were adamant
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that he was trying to move in a different direction.
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As one friend put it, he had a job, he
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was working. He was trying to straighten his life out.
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Daniel worked long hours at both a Carl's Junior and
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a coffee shop near UNLV he was engaged. He talked
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about saving money, finishing school, buying a home, and helping
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support his family. Daniel may have had ties to the
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neighborhood he grew up in, but the people who knew
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him best said he was starting to outgrow the barrio.
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He was trying to build something beyond it. Ramone admitted
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that his son had had problems in the past, but
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he was actively working on them. He was respectful and
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didn't have problems with anyone. Ramone said his ultimate hope
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for his son was simple. He just wanted Daniel to
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become a respectable man and a respectable worker. In his columns,
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John Smith addressed the deep structural unfairness and reductive labeling
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of Daniel Mendoza by the police and the media. He
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pointed out the systemic bias of nineteen nineties Las Vegas
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that if you were a young Latino man living in
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a low income, high crime apartment complex like mckeller Circle,
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the system treated you as a de facto gang member.
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Smith noted that mckeller's Circle sat just a few blocks
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from the heart of the Strip, not far from what
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he called the city's multi billion dollar dream machine, but
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Daniel's neighborhood was a place with only a little hope
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and fewer prospects. Smith pointed out that survival in that
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community forced interaction with gang elements, but that using that
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environment to strip a victim of his humanity or excuse
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a police led drive by was a moral failure of
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the city. There's no question that Daniel had ties to
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the barrio and the gang members that live there, and
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he himself was a part of that, but that should
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never have been the only thing that people knew about him.
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I think, given that what we know about Daniel, you
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have to ask yourself what kind of active, hardened gang
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member spends his days working minimum wage shifts at a
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fast food place and a college coffee shop to build
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the life his father wished for him.
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However, in January nineteen ninety seven, a large portion of
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the Las Vegas public did not want to hear about
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a grieving father. When John L. Smith published his initial
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column humanizing Daniel, his inbox and mailbox were flooded with
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a wave of hostile, defensive vitriol from local citizens. Smith
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would later publish these letters under a chilling title civil
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Rights on a Sliding Scale. One anonymous person wrote to Smith,
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the tragedy occurred the day that Daniel Mendoza joined a gang,
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not the day he was shot, which is simply a
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gang member's occupational hazard. Gang members get shot every day,
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and losing one certainly doesn't cause me to lose any sleep.
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We could stand to have a few less gang members.
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Another unsigned letter attacked the column directly, writing why are
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you painting this guy like a hero or an upstanding citizen.
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This guy was a gang banger from the Eighteenth Street gang.
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As for the poor, stupid, innocent gang member, all I
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can say is what goes around comes around, and the
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old only good gang member is a dead gang member.
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There was even a postcard that read Mendoza was just
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another baggy clothing wearing, shaven head Mexican gang punk, One
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00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:12.160
less punk to worry about. John L. Smith looked at
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this overwhelming mountain of public cruelty and asked a vital
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question for the entire city. Civil rights on a sliding scale,
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It's the American way. If there was any doubt about
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how powerful the gang member label had become in Las Vegas,
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the public reaction to Daniel's death quickly erased it. People
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were so blinded by the fear of crime and the
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gang label that they were openly willing to excuse a
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lawless police led drive by execution of an unarmed twenty
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one year old, But all of that debate was still
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in the future. On the night of December twenty seventh,
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nineteen ninety six, Daniel Mendoza was simply a young man
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standing outside his apartment with friends, enjoying an early New
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Year's Eve celebration.
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We're going to pause here for a quick break, but
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when we come back, we'll take you onto the streets
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of mckeller's Circle. During the midnight hours of December twenty seventh,
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these two starkly different worlds were about to collide. December
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twenty seventh, nineteen ninety six, was Ron Mordensen's thirty first birthday.
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He and Brady spent the evening drinking heavily at a party,
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washing down beers with tequila. The two would later admit
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they were drunk, but instead of going home, they decided
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to go on a tear through the rougher part of
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town and into minority neighborhoods. Brady would later testify that
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they were out to harass drug dealers, vagrants, and bangers.
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He told investigators, we were just having fun. After midnight,
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the blue Dodge truck pulled into the apartment driveway at
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McKellar's Circle. The officers gestured for Daniel and his friends
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to walk over to the truck. Daniel's friend later recalled
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the two men in the truck, asking them to come here.
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Daniel and his friends refused to approach the truck. Because
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of their clean cut appearance, the group suspected the two
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men were undercover narcs. They raised their hands and signaled
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to the truck that they didn't have any drugs and
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they were unarmed. Suddenly, a handgun appeared in the passenger window.
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As Daniel's friend put it, the next words that were
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exchanged were the gun going off. Six shots were fired,
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and Daniel was struck in the chest and collapsed. The
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blue truck roared out of the driveway, speeding away into
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the night. The immediate aftermath was pure chaos. His friends
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called nine one one, while Rosa, a nursing assistant, rushed
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to help Daniel. She desperately performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Allegedly,
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an arriving Metro officer got into a physical altercation with
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her when she tried to prevent Rosa from continuing to
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give CPR to Daniel, allegedly telling her he's not worth saving.
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Daniel died on the street outside his home the day
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after the shooting. The police department swarmed the neighborhood looking
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for leeds as to who was driving the truck, but
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according to Ramon Mendoza, the responding officers didn't seem too
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focused on finding the killers. Instead, they began aggressively taking
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photographs of all of Daniel's grieving friends and neighbors who
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had gathered around the religious candles set up to pay tribute.
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A frustrated Ramon yelled to the officers, why do you
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do nothing when my son is shot? That question hungover
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Metro in the city of Las Vegas for decades.
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Next week, in part two, the blue wall of silence cracks.
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Within forty eight hours of Daniel's death, one Metro officer
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will accuse his own partner of murder, igniting a brutal
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he said. He said, legal war, and in the end
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everything came down to a single question who pulled the trigger?
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Until next week, Remember what happens here happens everywhere.
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Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod dot co, slash subscribe for
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You can contact us at questions at sins Andsurvivors dot com.
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If you are someone you know as affected by domestic
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violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources
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or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources
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is available on our website, Sins and Survivors dot com.
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Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research,
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written and produced by your hosts Sean and John. The
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information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time
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of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please
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email us. Links to source material for this episode can
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be found on our website, Sins and Survivors dot com.
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The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely
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those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All
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individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not
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constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal
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professionals for guidance.
