'Did I hurt anyone'

When Richard Lanave woke up on the floor of his northeast Carson City apartment early Tuesday morning, he did not have the strength to get to his cell phone across the room.

A diabetic since 1986, Lanave has been insulin dependent since 2007, and he knew he was feeling the onset of diabetic shock. He believed his only hope was to try to get help, he later told Detective Dena Lacy,

In a state of confusion Lanave pulled his loaded handgun from the night stand near his head, Lacy said. He fired a shot out the window hoping someone would call 911.

Lacy said Lanave does not recall firing more than five times, but an investigation revealed the retired California attorney and Navy veteran unloaded 13 rounds not only out his window, but into the ceiling above his bed at the Royal Vista apartments in the 3200 block of Imperial Way.

Two of those bullets penetrated the floor of Brian Kennedy's upstairs apartment. The first bullet sliced through the box spring and mattress and grazed Kennedy's thigh as he lay sleeping next to his girlfriend, Shawna Hollis. Just three feet from him, Kennedy's 3-month-old son, Jordan, slept in a crib.

The noise woke Kennedy and he felt a pain in his thigh, said Detective Bob Motamenpour.

It was when the second shot ripped through Kennedy's ankle that the young father realized he'd been shot, he told Motamenpour from the emergency room at Renown Regional Medical Center.

Both Kennedy and Hollis sprang from the bed and grabbed their sleeping newborn. The couple raced out of the room, said Motamenpour, fearing that whoever was shooting at them from below was shooting at the sound of their footsteps on the floor.

The first call to 911 came at 1:56 a.m., dispatch logs reveal. That caller reported hearing seven shots and a woman screaming. Two-tenths of a second later, a second call came in with the caller reporting two gunshots. And again, the caller said, hearing a woman screaming. A minute later, dispatchers received a third report of shots and a woman screaming.

When officers arrived on scene, Kennedy, his leg soaked in blood, stood in the kitchen of his apartment. Also scared from all the confusion, the couple's dog, Daisy, crouched beneath the crib.

Deputies ushered the family outside and away from the scene.

Below, officers saw the bullet holes in Lanave's window. They knocked on the door of the apartment and received no response, police records indicate. They kicked the door open and the dark room was thick with gunsmoke.

Officers retreated.

By 2:30 a.m. some 30 tenants from the complex had been evacuated from their apartments into the chilly night half a block away.

While the SWAT team was assembling, a deputy began to speak through a loudspeaker toward the open door of Lanave's apartment.

"Occupants of Apartment 13, this is the Carson City Sheriff's Department. You need to come out of the apartment with your hands up. Do it now."

Every few minutes, the mantra was repeated.

Lanave told Lacy he could hear the deputy ordering him out of the apartment. He said he hollered back that he was on the floor in the bedroom. He couldn't understand why they couldn't hear him, Lacy said. Then he realized they were speaking through a loudspeaker.

"He said, 'I better get up enough strength to get out that door or they're going to come in here and shoot me,'" Lacy said.

So, Lanave began to crawl out of his room. Halfway to the front door, he rested, said Lacy. Then he crawled the rest of the way.

Undersheriff Steve Albertsen said Lanave emerged on his hands and feet and collapsed at the doorway at 3:14 a.m.

"He said he couldn't crawl out anymore," said Albertsen. Deputies rushed over and dragged Lanave to the west end of the building. He was quickly put into a vehicle and driven around the corner.

The undersheriff was the first person to talk to Lanave.

"He said he was sorry for the problems," Albertsen said.

Paramedics were called for Lanave and he was taken to Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center. A blood test revealed his blood sugar level was at 37.

According to the American Diabetes Association, normal blood sugar levels fall between 70 and 130 milligrams before a meal. Below 40, a patient is hypoglycemic, which can be fatal. Among the symptoms are headaches, difficulty concentrating, blurred vision and weakness.

Lacy said that when she interviewed Lanave, he was stunned to learn he'd fired 13 rounds.

"He asked me, 'Did I hurt anyone,'" Lacy recalled, "And I told him yes."

Lanave was crestfallen, she said.

He told Lacy his upstairs neighbors had a "new baby."

"He said, 'I should never be let out. I deserve nothing, to scare my neighbors like that,'" she said.

Lanave was released from the hospital and booked into the Carson City Jail on 13 felony counts of firing a weapon into a structure, 13 felony counts of firing a weapon within the city limits, and two felony counts of battery with a deadly weapon. His bail is set at $30,000.

Two hours after the incident began, Lacy coaxed the frightened dog from the apartment and took her to stay with a neighbor who volunteered to watch her.

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