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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 8:52 a.m., Monday, July 9, 2007

Accused gunman in Vegas casino shooting due in court

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — A man accused of opening fire with a handgun inside a Las Vegas Strip casino was scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge on Tuesday.

Steven Zegrean, 51, of Las Vegas, remained jailed without bail on suicide watch at the Clark County jail Monday after his arrest early Friday at the New York-New York casino.

Four people were wounded in the shooting and a fifth person was hurt in a crush of people fleeing the casino, after authorities say Zegrean fired 16 shots from an indoor balcony at gamblers below. None of the injuries was reported to be life-threatening, and no one remained overnight in the hospital.

Zegrean was apprehended after he paused to reload his semiautomatic pistol and was tackled by off-duty military reservists and restrained with the help of two Florida state police agents, police said. A gun was confiscated, and police said Zegrean had more ammunition in his tan trench coat when he was arrested.

He is expected to face felony charges including attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon, and discharging a firearm in an occupied structure, police said.

Family members described Zegrean as an unemployed house painter, a Hungarian immigrant who has been divorced for several years and estranged from most of his family since his ex-wife remarried.

Police characterized Zegrean as "greatly emotionally distressed." They said he walked the Las Vegas Strip for a day and a half before the shooting, after police and paramedics responded to a report that he attempted suicide July 4.