A federal judge sentenced a Colorado man to 10 years in prison for using a Tomahawk hatchet to attack a person at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 2018. According to an announcement, 48-year-old Christopher Dewey Booker pleaded guilty to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in April 2024. In addition to imprisonment, the judge ordered him to serve three years of probation as well.
In court documents, prosecutors say Booker tried to kill a man referred to as A.H. on Sept. 7, 2018, while attempting to steal a vehicle. During the attack, Booker "intentionally and repeatedly struck and bludgeoned A.H., using a Tomahawk hatchet." The attack caused "serious bodily injury," including 22 identifiable injuries.
As a result, A.H. suffered fractured bones, lacerations, partial detachment of his left hand, and partial face paralysis. "These injuries resulted in protracted loss and impairment of A.H.'s jaw and permanent impairment of A.H.'s left hand," prosecutors say.
Lake Mead crime
News reports have long examined crime at Lake Mead, located about 16 miles outside of Las Vegas. In 2023, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported an increase in unsafe and unlawful behavior in the area.
In an interview, John Haynes, a spokesperson for the park service, told the newspaper last year that authorities saw an increase in negative behavior overall. Last year, they saw 19 deaths. Additionally, authorities responded to other reckless behavior such as drunken driving incidents.
In August 2023, park officials reported that two people drowned, suggesting that their deaths were caused by unsafe boating. Then, over Father's Day weekend that year, officials reported six deaths. Three were killed in an accident involving multiple vehicles, two drowned, and one died of an apparent suicide. What's more, park rangers had to rescue 23 people and responded to multiple reports of criminal behavior.
According to data collected by the National Park Service, Lake Mead recorded 123 deaths between 2014 and 2019. With 39, drowning accounted for the majority of the deaths while motor vehicle crashes caused 21. For deaths classified as "intentional," suicide accounted for 13 while homicide accounted for only one.
