Former Marine guilty of grocery store killings

LAS VEGAS - Zane Floyd was convicted Thursday of gunning down four employees of an Albertson's grocery store in a shooting spree that prosecutors said fulfilled the former Marine's fantasy.

The jury took a little more than two hours to find Floyd, 24, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder.

He also was convicted of the attempted murder of a fifth supermarket employee and of raping and kidnapping a former outcall entertainer just before he walked into the supermarket. In all, Floyd was found guilty of 11 counts related to the June 3, 1999, shooting spree.

''There was no emotion. I wonder is that how he felt when he went up and shot my son in the back,'' said Mona Nall, mother of Thomas Darnell, one of the victims.

Even though Floyd had pleaded innocent, his defense attorneys did not contest that Floyd shot the workers and sexually assaulted Tracie Carter, 21. Store video surveillance cameras captured some of the shootings and Floyd confessed to police.

The attorneys said they will concentrate on the penalty phase of the trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday. They say Floyd became mentally unhinged the morning of the shootings.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

''He was fully aware that what he was going to do was going to shock the consciousness of this community,'' Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell told jurors Thursday as detailed Floyd's killing fantasy.

Earlier a tape of Floyd's confession to police was played for the jury.

''I killed those people - oh God,'' Floyd said.

''Why did I kill those people, I don't know. ... I looked right at her and I just, I just, just blew her head apart,'' he said in describing how he killed Lucy Tarantino.

He said Tarantino had begged him not to kill her.

As the confession played, Floyd bowed his head and buried his face in his hands. Family members of the victims sobbed as Floyd talked on tape about the rampage.

He did not testify at the three-day trial.

Prosecutors claim that after a night of drinking, gambling and a fight with his girlfriend, Floyd called the Love Bound outcall service to request the services of a dancer. Carter was dispatched to Floyd's home about 3:30 a.m.

She testified that Floyd pointed gun at her and told her that she just happened to be a part of his ''sick little fantasy.'' She said Floyd raped and sodomized her and threatened to kill her. She said that after the assault, Floyd told her she had a few seconds to get away or he would shoot her.

Carter also testified that Floyd showed her 19 bullets and told her he was going to shoot the first 19 people he saw.

She said he changed into his military uniform and put a bathrobe over his clothes to conceal his 22-gauge shotgun. Carter said Floyd had her tie the robe's belt around him.

Just a short time after Carter left Floyd's home, he entered the Albertson's store, authorities say.

He threw off his bathrobe and shot the first person he saw - Darnell, a mentally disabled man who was organizing shopping carts, Bell said.

Next, Floyd went up aisle 7, and shot Chuck Leos in the neck and face, Bell said. He had just celebrated his first wedding anniversary. The next victim was Dennis Sargent, a night supervisor with a 6-year-old son.

In the produce section, stock clerk Zack Emenegger was shot, but survived by playing dead, Bell said.

By then, the prosecutor said employees were hiding in coolers, administrative offices - anywhere they could.

In the back of the bakery, Tarantino, a grandmother, begged Floyd not to shoot her, Bell said. She was shot in the top of the head.

The entire killing spree took five minutes. Floyd then walked out of the store and surrendered to police after telling officers to shoot him. He then confessed.