By The Associated Press

Published: Friday, February 22, 2013, 7:57 p.m.
Updated: Friday, February 22, 2013

LAS VEGAS — The Maserati driver who died after being peppered with gunfire from someone in a Range Rover SUV, sparking a fiery crash that killed two others, was identified on Friday as an aspiring rapper originally from Northern California.

The Clark County coroner confirmed that Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. was killed, although the cause of death was still being investigated. It wasn't clear whether Cherry died of gunshots or the crash.

The coroner hasn't identified the taxi driver and his female passenger who died when the cab exploded early Thursday, but a family member identified the cab driver as Michael Boldon, 62.

Boldon's older sister, Carolyn Jean Trimble, told The Associated Press that Boldon was a father and grandfather who was born and raised in Michigan and had been driving taxis since he moved to Las Vegas about 11⁄2 years ago. Boldon loved watching car races and drove a Mercedes when he wasn't in a cab.

“Everybody just loved him,” Trimble said. “When that car hit that cab, Mike had to be in there talking and laughing.”

Police were searching for the Range Rover with dark tinted windows and custom rims that set off the fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip. Besides the three people killed, six people were injured in what marked the latest in a series of violent episodes in Las Vegas in recent months.

Cherry's great aunt, Patricia Sims of Oakland, Calif., said Cherry's parents were flying to Las Vegas to claim their 27-year-old son's body.

“Right now my heart is breaking,” Sims said. “This has really been a tragedy. Kenny was just a delightful kid.”

Sims, 75, said Cherry grew up in the Berkeley and Oakland area and attended two Catholic high schools there. He moved to Las Vegas in the past couple of years, though Sims said she didn't know her nephew was a rapper using the name Kenny Clutch. Cherry was particularly close with Sims' 106-year-old mother.

“I haven't been able to tell her,” Sims said of Cherry's death.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters that the shooting was sparked by an argument in the valet area of the nearby Aria hotel-casino, and it traveled to one of the busiest intersections on the Las Vegas Strip. As bullets flew from the Range Rover, the Maserati ran a red light and smashed into the taxi.

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