Murder weapon may have been found

Carson City workers clearing brush Wednesday two blocks from the scene of a fatal west side shooting stumbled on a .40-caliber handgun possibly used by the killer, authorities said.

"I thought it might have been a pellet gun. We find a lot of those," said worker Vernon Markussen of the Carson City Streets Department.

Markussen was with co-worker Joe Booth when he spotted the black Smith & Wesson gun amid a growth of bushes - as if placed there as opposed to tossed, he said - at the corner of Sixth and Division streets. "When I picked it up, I realized it was real and Joe said 'That's a .40-caliber. That's what that guy got shot with.'"

Police are searching for Maximiliano "Dagger" Cisneros, 22, of Los Angeles in the midnight shooting Tuesday of Juan Carlos Alegria, 23, and Fidel Fuentes, 22.

Witnesses claim Fuentes broke in the door of his estranged girlfriend's ground-floor apartment in the 300 block of Eighth Street. A short time later a man emerged from the apartment and opened fire, hitting Fuentes' friend, Alegria, three times in the torso and Fuentes once in the leg.

Alegria died of the wounds sustained from the .40-caliber bullets. Fuentes is listed in fair condition.

Within seconds of Markussen's call to police, patrol cars and detectives swooped down on the quiet street behind the Ormsby House and only blocks from an elementary school. They quickly photographed the scene, then carefully picked up the weapon and took it away, he said.

"Kids come walking by here on the way home," said Markussen. "Can you imagine if a kid would have found it?"

Carson City Sheriff's Sgt. Bob White said the gun will be examined to determine if it was the one used in the shooting.

In addition to the gun, police also impounded two cars - one they believe Cisneros may have been in Tuesday before and after the shooting and another he was allegedly spotted in about 7 the same evening.

The second vehicle was stopped by police leaving at a Woodside Drive apartment complex. Cisneros was not in the car. The sole occupant, a 16-year-old boy, was arrested for driving without a license and taking the car without permission. A third car, reportedly stolen Tuesday by someone involved in the shooting, was recovered in Reno on Wednesday, said Undersheriff Steve Albertsen.

Sheriff Kenny Furlong went to Alegria's parents' home in Dayton on Tuesday evening to share with them information he had on their son's death.

He said he was unable earlier in the day to give the family details surrounding the shooting because the information was developing.

The Alegria family was grateful for the personal visit.

"He was really nice," said elder sister Alba, with whom Alegria shared a Carson City home. "At least we have a clear picture now. Mother thought it was very nice of (the sheriff) to come and tell her."

A neighbor, who asked to not be identified, said Wednesday he captured on his surveillance camera the sounds of the assault.

"You can hear a woman screaming about something, then there was silence, then gunshots," he said. Some of the voices were inaudible, but at another point on the tape, he could hear a woman's voice screaming to someone, "The (expletive) guy ran away!" and "Don't die. Don't die." The man turned the tape over to police.

Investigators believe Cisneros may still be in Northern Nevada, or possibly headed to Southern California, where he last lived.

Cisneros is described as 6 feet 4 inches tall, with brown eyes and black hair. A mugshot from a July 2003 arrest in Los Angeles for public drunkenness shows Cisneros with a mustache and goatee, but an AM/PM Mini Mart surveillance video taken just prior to the shooting shows him clean shaven.

A flyer sent to law enforcement agencies across the nation states the warrant for Cisneros charges murder and attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He is believed to be in the company of three other men.

"Officers should use extreme caution. Suspect has made comments that he will not go to prison," the flyer warns.

Contact F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.