2 traded fire in North Las Vegas triple killing
Two gunmen exchanged fire at the scene of a triple homicide last weekend, one of whom is a friend of the slain family members, a police report shows.
North Las Vegas police had not disclosed the possibility of a second shooter before Friday. That detail was revealed after the arrest report was released Friday morning for the man suspected of firing the fatal shots that killed 52-year-old Susan Nash and her two adult children, Deonte’ Nash, 31, and Dejona’e Nash, 20.
Jose Easley, 41, a four-time felon, was arrested Wednesday evening on three counts of murder, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, battery with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, prohibited possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, court records show.
According to the report, at least one family friend was with the Nashes during a confrontation with Easley. Police have not yet interviewed the second shooter, and it was not clear whether he would face charges in connection with the firefight, said North Las Vegas police spokesman Aaron Patty.
A total of 17 shots were fired at the scene from two weapons, the report shows.
The shooting happened about 8:40 p.m. Sunday in a parking lot near West Lake Mead Boulevard and Simmons Street, on the border between Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Members of the Nash family confronted Easley following an earlier argument in the parking lot between the suspect and one of the family members. During that confrontation, Easley put a gun to the family member’s head, the report said.
Patty did not specify which family member was involved in the earlier confrontation, but said that it was not one of the three people killed.
The man involved in the argument went home, the report said, but soon returned to the parking lot with his family and the armed family friend.
An argument between the Nash family and Easley escalated, leading to the exchange in gunfire, according to the report. Easley then sped off in a Chevy Tahoe, driving over the bodies of the victims, the report said.
The three died at the scene, and the father of Dejona’e Nash’s child also was injured in the shooting. He was hospitalized at University Medical Center with survivable injuries.
Susan Nash’s children both died of two gunshot wounds to the head. Their autopsies also revealed internal injuries consistent with being run over by a car, including fractured ribs and a lacerated aorta, the report said.
Their mother’s cause of death was still pending Friday with the Clark County coroner’s office.
After news of Easley’s arrest, Nash family friend Phantasia Mack told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that loved ones appreciated the help and support they’ve received since Sunday. But Mack said the family and loved ones are still grieving.
“We still have to bury three people,” she said.
Easley was identified as the shooter by several witnesses in the area, his report said.
2002 conviction
Court records show that Easley was previously convicted of attempted murder with a deadly weapon for a shooting that occurred north of downtown Las Vegas in 2002.
According to his arrest report in that case, Easley banged on a woman’s apartment door, screaming profanities and threatening to shoot her. The woman yelled through the door that she didn’t know him and thought he might have the wrong apartment. As Easley stormed down to the parking lot, the woman walked out of her apartment and saw him carrying a baby boy, the Metropolitan Police Department report said.
Easley got into his car and left at the same time that the woman’s boyfriend arrived at the complex, the woman later told police. The woman and her boyfriend were in the parking lot when a security guard warned them that Easley had returned, this time with his girlfriend and her two children, the 4-month-old baby and a 7-year-old boy.
Easley got out of the car and was holding the baby when the first woman’s boyfriend confronted Easley, his 2002 arrest report said. He walked upstairs, put the baby inside his girlfriend’s apartment, and walked out carrying a gun.
As the first woman’s boyfriend tried to run, Easley fired the gun at least seven times, shooting the woman’s boyfriend three times in the lower back and once in his right wrist, the report said. The man was critically wounded in the shooting.
A stray bullet went through the window of a first-floor apartment and lodged in a closet door. The family who lived there – including two girls, ages 5 and 8 – was home at the time, the arrest report said.
Easley served time in the Nevada Department of Corrections from June 2003 to May 2016 for that crime, spokeswoman Brooke Santina said.
His arrest report from the shooting last weekend stated that he had three other felony convictions but provided no details on the others.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover burial costs for the Nash family.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Kimber Laux contributed to this report.
