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Las Vegas Strip shooting suspect refuses to waive extradition

By Richard Winton
, Kate Mather and Corina Knoll
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A 26-year-old man arrested in Studio City and held on suspicion of murder in a car-to-car shooting on the Las Vegas Strip refused to waive extradition Thursday and asked Nevada authorities to produce a governor’s warrant.

Ammar Harris is accused of a Feb. 21 shooting that led to the deaths of three people, including Kenneth Cherry Jr., a rap artist known as Kenny Clutch. Las Vegas police allege that Harris -– described by law enforcement officials as having an “extensive and violent criminal history” -- opened fire from his Range Rover on Cherry’s Maserati on Las Vegas Boulevard after an altercation at a valet stand at the Aria hotel resort.

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The Maserati then sped into the intersection at Flamingo Road, where it rammed a cab, which erupted in flames. The taxi driver and passenger inside were killed. Four other vehicles were involved and three other people were injured.

PHOTOS: Shots fired on the Las Vegas strip

Two days later, Harris’ vehicle was found at a Las Vegas apartment complex. He was charged with murder, even though he could not be located.

After a weeklong manhunt, Harris was found at an apartment in the 4100 block of Arch Drive in the San Fernando Valley, 270 miles from the scene of the crime. After his public defender requested the warrant before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba, a status hearing was scheduled for April 12. Authorities have 90 days to secure the warrant from the Nevada governor’s office.

Interactive map: Shooting in Las Vegas

According to law enforcement sources, Harris operated as a pimp in Las Vegas. In a video released by Las Vegas police, Harris flashed a fistful of $100 bills as he bragged about the money. He boasted about money, guns, expensive cars and run-ins with the law on social media accounts, authorities said.

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Authorities believe that Harris, using the name Jai’duh, posted pictures of stacks of $100 bills and a Carbon 15 pistol on one social media site.

Harris’ record includes a 2010 arrest in Las Vegas on suspicion of pimping-related offenses of pandering with force and sexual assault. He has previously been arrested on suspicion of a variety of crimes in South Carolina and Georgia, authorities said.

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-- Richard Winton, John Glionna, Kate Mather and Corina Knoll

L.A. Now
Richard Winton

Richard Winton is an investigative crime writer for the Los Angeles Times and part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011. Known as @lacrimes on Twitter, during almost 30 years at The Times he also has been part of the breaking news staff that won Pulitzers in 1998, 2004 and 2016.

Kate Mather

Kate Mather covered crime, policing and breaking news across Southern California before leaving The Times in 2018 to attend law school. A native of Lawrence, Kan., she studied journalism at USC before first joining The Times in 2011. Mather was part of the team of reporters that received a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, as well as the team that was a Pulitzer finalist for its reporting on a deadly 2014 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif.

Corina Knoll

Corina Knoll is a former reporter for the Metro section of the Los Angeles Times. She was on the team that investigated corruption in Bell — which led to the paper’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize for public service — and went on to cover the trials of the city’s former officials. She later contributed to the paper’s coverage of the San Bernardino terror attack that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. As a regional reporter, she wrote features about the San Gabriel Valley and the Westside. During her courts beat, she covered high-profile criminal cases and civil disputes, including the Jackson family vs AEG and Bryan Stow vs LA Dodgers. She and two colleagues investigated sheriff’s deputies whose histories of misconduct landed them on the department’s top-secret Brady list. She left The Times in January 2019. Raised in the Midwest, she is a graduate of Macalester College.

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