LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The hole in the Las Vegas pharmacy’s bathroom wall was a telltale sign the criminal activity in a Lone Mountain community shopping center was progressively getting worse. It was the second break-in in a month.

Tracy Nguyen, owner of West Cheyenne Pharmacy, moved into the Lone Mountain Village shopping center in the northwest valley along the 215 and Gowan Road in 2018, and within a few months, her business was the target of a break-in.

“The first time they just somehow unlocked the front door,” she said. “Since then, there have been several incidents that we have been filing with the police department.”

According to Nguyen, at least three businesses have been the target of a break-in at the shopping center in the past few years.

On Sept. 15, security cameras captured an individual in dark clothing jumping the pharmacy counter, during closed hours, and attempting to rob the store before allegedly escaping through a hole in the pharmacy’s bathroom wall which led back to a neighboring nail salon.

“I’m kind of worried, but we’re not so much scared, because it’s happened during the nighttime, at least we are not here,” Nguyen said. “They attempt another break-in. So, in that one I sent out the letter to city council, to the police department, [to] reach out to them for help.”

Nguyen said she sat down for a private meeting with her Las Vegas city councilwoman about the issues facing the shopping center at Convo Coffee, which has also been the target of alleged destruction of property. Nguyen said she told both police and representatives from the city the area needed more of a police presence.

“We know that usually this incident occurs between one to three, and we don’t ask for much, but at least, you know, just drive by,” she said. “I know they are out-resourced too, but just like once in a while, just to deter or prevent this from happening.”

Sarah Lee, a technician at West Cheyenne Pharmacy, said the break-ins have had a lasting effect on her sense of safety going to work, but the area is also inundated with individuals who have approached workers.

“They just walking around all the time, and some people seems like a mentally unstable because they’re talking to themselves,” Lee said. “Even though we asked, you know police for help is still, I don’t see anything really changing. So that’s concerning.”

“A real gem”

Numerous customers, and residents from the Lone Mountain community rallied around Nguyen, during an 8 News Now interview Tuesday, expressing concern for the safety of their neighborhood pharmacist.

“[Tracy] is a businesswoman on her own,” Sheryl Reilly, a 27-year Lone Mountain community resident said. “We moved all our business here because she really brings so much to the community. We’ve also seen a big change in crime in the area.”

Reilly said Tracy goes above and beyond for the entire neighborhood and the threat to her safety has kicked the community into action to insist on more of a police presence from law enforcement.

Christina Gonzalez, an agent with State Farm, said she has seen the shopping center become a new center for crime and even car accidents in the parking lot.

“I haven’t seen as many issues over the last four years, as I have in the last year, a lot of people being more aggressive in the area,” Gonzalez said. “This area is supposed to be more safe, and hasn’t felt that way lately.”

The 8 News Now interview with Gonzales was interrupted at one point when a man started yelling in the parking lot and appeared to cause concern to the shoppers and business owners in the area.

“Sometimes when I get out of my car when I get here, I could tell when there’s people that make me feel a little bit more unsafe,” she said. “And it happens more frequently.”

A point of origin for some problems, most residents pointed to, was the nearby storm drain that runs behind the businesses. Brinton Marsden, a Lone Mountain community resident, said the area has only been becoming more dangerous.

“Eventually someone’s going to either get assaulted or robbed or worse, God forbid,” he said. “If Metro would just drive through the parking lot on the way out from the gas station, I think that would reduce a lot of the problem here that’s going on.”

The LVMPD Northwest Area Command is 1.5 miles east of the shopping center, on the same road. Marsden, a retired member of law enforcement, said he would like to see if police can “wave the flag” and drive through the shopping center more frequently.

“Tracy is a real gem to have in this neighborhood,” he said. “What we’ve seen over the last year or so is an uptick in homeless people up here, harassing customers, harassing people in the parking lot, panhandling. And then, of course, you have, you’ve had the break-ins of the businesses here. So yeah, it’s, it’s definitely taken a turn for the worse.”

8 News Now has requested a statement from LVMPD regarding what response they have made since the incidents in the shopping center, and an update regarding a possible investigation made on Saturday.

The Northwest Area Command Patrol Investigations Section has also requested the public to contact them at 702-828-8505 if they have any information regarding an identified crime spree in the area targeting specialty pharmacies, since July 2024.

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