Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

A tourist who watched a robber shoot and kill a close friend last month in a McDonald's parking lot recounted his version of the slaying in court Tuesday.

David Cross, testifying in a preliminary hearing in Clark County Justice Court, said his buddy, 49-year-old Thomas Latimer, heard a scream at the McDonald's and chased and struggled with one of two robbers.

Then, a second person got out of a nearby car and sneaked up on Latimer.

"At that point, Mr. (Charles) Walker arose out of the car ... and then Mr. Walker fired two shots into Mr. Latimer," Cross said.

The suspects in the murder, Charles Anthony Walker and Sean White were arrested shortly after the killing and charged with murder and robbery.

In court, Cross sat about 10 feet from the shackled suspects and identified Walker as the triggerman and White as the person who raided a McDonald's cash register Jan. 21 near Twain Avenue and Swenson Street.

Cross recalled how he tended to his dying friend, a resident of Orlando, Fla., in town for a convention.

"I just spent time with Tom. I saw where the bullet hole had entered," Cross said. "I just stuck my hand over his chest and tried to stop the bleeding.

"I asked, 'Where else (were you hit)?' And he said he was hit in the arm," Cross said. "He asked me to tell his wife..."

Objections from Walker's attorney prevented Cross from finishing the sentence.

McDonald's manager Christopher Oman identified Walker as the man who brandished a gun during the heist that netted roughly $250 and ended with Latimer's death.

Christie Chaidez, 16, said she was working the McDonald's register when Walker and White approached and ordered a "hot and spicy and a No. 1."

She said Walker handed her a $5 bill for the food. She was still holding the money, she testified, when White hopped the counter and dipped into the register.

"I stepped back and the guy with the gun, he saw that I still had the money in my hand," Chaidez said. "So he told me to give him the five dollars."

Added: July 4, 2008