Altercation breaks out in court after hearing in North Las Vegas slaying
An altercation broke out in the lobby of North Las Vegas Justice Court on Thursday after a court hearing for Markeem Benson, who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Renise “NeNe” Wolfe.
Family members of Wolfe said that her father, Robert Wolfe, a retired Metropolitan Police Department officer, was detained at the courthouse after a physical altercation with a man whom Wolfe’s mother, Tracy Coleman, said had been taunting them.
When the man was later escorted to his car by court marshals, he declined to give his name to a reporter.
On Sunday, Benson’s father called police to say that his son wanted to “turn himself in for murder,” according to an arrest report. North Las Vegas Police Department officers met Benson at a Buffalo Wild Wings in North Las Vegas, where he was taken into custody.
Benson, 29, told police that he had been in a fight with Wolfe, his girlfriend of five months, when a struggle over a gun turned deadly, the report stated.
Witnesses whose names were redacted in the report told police that Benson had said Wolfe “pulled a gun” on him when the struggle ensued.
In court earlier this week, prosecutors said Benson shot Wolfe four times in the back of her head.
“It seems that the autopsy information shows she was shot from behind her,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Michelle Jobe said.
Wolfe, 33, was found dead on Sunday morning in an apartment complex in the 100 block of East Rome Boulevard, according to police. Neighbors at the apartment complex reported hearing “pops” coming from inside the apartment just before 1:30 a.m.
Wolfe’s body was found face down in a kneeling position when officers arrived later that day, according to Benson’s arrest report. She was not fully clothed. Coleman described her daughter as being in a “fetal position.”
Analysis of the crime scene suggested that Benson, who had several prior arrests for domestic violence-related offenses, would have been standing above Wolfe as he fired one of the rounds, the report said.
On Tuesday, Ashley Tuttle, Wolfe’s older sister, said that the family was planning on attending all of Benson’s court hearings.
But during Thursday morning’s hearing, multiple family members said that an unidentified man exhibited threatening behavior.
“He was laughing in our face,” Tuttle said, adding that court marshals asked Wolfe’s family to leave the courtroom.
When the “taunting” continued in the lobby of the courthouse, Coleman said, she tried to hold Wolfe’s father back, who Tuttle said the unidentified man moved his elbow toward.
After a physical altercation ensued, family members said Robert Wolfe was detained by court marshals and later released.
North Las Vegas Police Department Public Information Officer Djuan Muldrew said that during the “disturbance” at least one person was battered and one person was detained.
“Responding officers and marshals separated all parties involved,” Muldrew wrote in an email. “Medical assistance was requested for the battered victim.”
Police did not release the name of the unidentified man.
Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estelleatkinson.bsky.social on Bluesky and @estellelilym on X. Review-Journal Staff Photographer K.M. Cannon contributed to this report.
