By Glenn Puit and Lisa Kim Bach
Review - Journal
A teen suspected of involvement in a northwest Las Vegas gang has confessed to throwing a rock through the windshield of a moving truck, maiming a 17-year-old, according to police records.
Christopher Farley, 18, is one of nine teens described as either members or associates of a gang known as the 311 Boyz, who are thought to be responsible for multiple assaults in northwest Las Vegas.
One of those crimes, authorities said, is the wounding of teen Stephen Tanner Hansen, whose face was crushed by a rock thrown through the window of a truck in July.
According to police reports, Farley confessed when he was confronted by police after the incident.
"Farley said that he threw the rocks," a police report said.
Farley said he did so because the driver of the truck Hansen was in, Craig Lefevre, had struck "one of Farley's friends at (a) party," an officer wrote in the police report.
Farley's attorney, Robert Draskovich, said the report is unreliable. He said he plans to "question the voluntariness of the statements and the accuracy of the police accounts."
Also Tuesday, authorities said that another teen suspected of being a member of the 311 Boyz, Steven Gazlay, 18, has been charged with beating another young man, Sean Quinn, with a crowbar in a separate incident, breaking his jaw. Quinn was attacked as he tried to break up a fight at a party in the desert.
"Quinn had a plate permanently affixed to his jaw and this plate will remain a permanent part of his skeletal structure for the remainder of his life," an officer wrote in reports.
Gazlay's defense attorney, James "Bucky" Buchanan, said the charges against his client are unwarranted.
"He hasn't been found guilty of anything," Buchanan said. "These are allegations, and none have been sustained."
Police have characterized the 311 Boyz as a violent group of teens from upper middle class and wealthy families in the northwest. Most of the suspects have links to Centennial High School.
On Monday, police filed charges against nine suspects in the attack on Hansen. With Gazlay and Farley, those facing charges are Ernest Bradley Aguilar, 17; Jeff E. Hart, 17; Anthony and Brandon Gallion, both 16; Matthew Costello, 17; Dominic Harriman, 18; and Scott Morse, 18.
At first, only five -- Farley, Morse, Hart and the Gallion twins -- appeared to be facing a charge of attempted murder, as a criminal complaint named them as the individuals who threw rocks at the truck Hansen was in. But Clark County prosecutor Christopher Laurent said Tuesday that all nine suspects are charged with attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, which carries a potential prison sentence of four to 40 years in prison.
The defendants also face charges of battery, mayhem and coercion.
The charges stem from a July 18 incident in the wealthy community of Canyon Terrace. Hansen and two friends, Lefevre and Joseph Grill, 18, were attending a party in a house under construction there.
Police reports said a fight erupted because Costello "was upset at Lefevre over a girlfriend named Jennifer."
Lefevre repeatedly was punched in the face while in his truck, and a group of teens surrounded his vehicle. While trying to get away from the group, Lefevre's truck struck a teen, according to the police reports.
While the truck sped away, a group of teens threw rocks at it, and Hansen was struck in the face. Hansen had metal plates installed in his head during reconstructive surgery and might lose sight in one eye, police said.
Laurent said the attempted murder charge was filed against all of the suspects under the premise that each aided and abetted one another in the crime or that they were all criminally liable for the acts of another as part of a conspiracy to commit battery or coercion.
Police reports said Gazlay is recognized by law enforcement as a member of the 311 Boyz.
"He has been stopped by officers in the presence of other '311 Boyz' gang members," officers wrote in reports.
Police said they have in their possession a video showing assaults carried out by the gang.
"Gazlay ... is seen in an impounded videotape that shows several beatings in which multiple suspects beat victims and yell, '311 Boyz' multiple times," the reports said.
According to the reports, Gazlay has been charged with assaulting a teen with a crowbar at a party in May in a desert area off Interstate 215 and Centennial Parkway.
The incident started when an individual identified in police records as a Weston Chandler reportedly was knocked unconscious by an unknown suspect who struck Chandler in the back of the head.
Quinn then tried to break up the fight and was thrown to the ground.
"When Quinn attempted to stand up, he was then attacked by a large number of males belonging to the '311 Boyz' gang," the police reports said.
Gazlay struck Quinn in the face with the crowbar, a police report said.
Many students contacted Tuesday at Centennial said they had never heard of the individuals charged until their names surfaced in news reports.
Centennial senior Joseph Khan had classes as a freshman with Farley. Khan called Farley an "OK guy" who just disappeared into the crowd early in his high school years.
"He wasn't very engaged, socially," senior Ryan Foster said. "Detached is a good word for it."
A Centennial senior who asked not to be identified was one of the few who knew about the 311 Boyz and their reputation for jumping people perceived as slighting them. The senior said that by the end of the last school year, the word was out to steer clear of them.
"They weren't causing trouble on campus," he said. "But people knew not to start anything with them. If you messed with anyone in their group, they were going to bring the group and mess with you."
Senior Zack Carter, who attended Molasky Middle School with Farley, said he was shocked when he heard news about the crimes committed over the summer.
"This is not a gang school," Carter said. "This school is squeaky clean."
Centennial Principal Gerald Velasquez Jr. was taken aback by the recent arrests. He said he recognized two or three of the nine juveniles charged with felonies as students with past discipline problems. He had not heard of the gang until Las Vegas police announced the charges.
"Their identity as the 311 Boyz was not known to me until this week," Velasquez said. "It's something they took on recently."
