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Woman no longer 'person of interest' in Las Vegas shooting

By Dana Ford, CNN
updated 3:05 AM EST, Thu February 28, 2013
Las Vegas police named Ammar Harris as a suspect in a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, which resulted in a crash. Three people were killed. Harris is still at large.
Las Vegas police named Ammar Harris as a suspect in a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, which resulted in a crash. Three people were killed. Harris is still at large.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Police no longer want to talk to Tineesha Howard, aka Yenesis Alfonso
  • She was inside a black Range Rover at the time shots were fired, they say
  • The fatal shooting and crash left three people dead

(CNN) -- Police are no longer looking for a woman in connection with a fatal shooting and crash that left three people dead on the Las Vegas Strip.

"Yenesis Alfonso, also known as Tineesha Howard, is no longer considered to be a missing person and is no longer a person of interest" in the homicide investigation, Las Vegas police said in a statement late Wednesday.

The 22-year-old was never named as a suspect, but detectives wanted to talk to her in connection with the case. The police statement says the investigation is ongoing.

Police didn't say why she was no longer considered a person of interest.

Shooting on the Las Vegas strip

Authorities had previously identified Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, 26, as a suspect in the shooting. He is at large, though a black Range Rover police say he was driving during the early-morning shooting has been impounded.

Police consider Harris to be armed and dangerous, and say he has an extensive criminal history, CNN affiliate KLAS reported. He has several tattoos, including a small heart -shaped one below his right eye and a large one of an owl that covers his neck and part of his chest.

A woman who said she is Howard's mother told CNN that her daughter and Harris have dated for about a year.

Miladys Garcia said she recognized Harris from an image that police issued, but that she knew him by a different name.

In the shooting and crash, Kenneth Cherry, an aspiring rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was driving his Maserati around 4:20 a.m. Thursday when someone in a Range Rover shot at his car as it headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard. Cherry, who was shot in the chest and arm, later died at a hospital.

The Maserati continued into the intersection with Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, which caught fire, killing cab driver Michael Boldon, CNN affiliate KVVU said.

A passenger in the taxi -- identified by the Clark County coroner's office as Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Washington -- also died. All the deaths have been ruled homicides, according to the coroner's office.

The fire closed a block and a half of the Strip near some of its biggest draws: Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo. Police collected surveillance video from the casinos.

CNN's Tina Burnside and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

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