18-year-old arrested in January gang murder found with stolen gun

North Las Vegas police have arrested a second suspect in connection with a gang-related, drive-by shooting from January.

Jabez Blanche, 18, was arrested Monday and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, battery with use of a deadly weapon, attempted murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, according to court documents.

Officers were called around 9:20 a.m. Jan. 15 to a home near Washburn Road and Goldfield Street after receiving a report that a car had crashed through a wall and into a backyard, North Las Vegas police said at the time.

The driver died of a gunshot wound to the head, and the passenger, an 18-year-old woman, suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh when Gemonte Kirkland, 20, allegedly drove by the pair in a rented car and fired several rounds at their car, according to Kirkland’s arrest report from North Las Vegas police.

At the time of Kirkland’s arrest, police confirmed the shooting was gang-related. Kirkland also faces charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, battery with use of a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

The Clark County coroner’s office identified the victim as Se’maj Holmes, 18, and said he died the next day at University Medical Center.

The witness told police that Holmes and his friend had been shot at two days before and that she had been robbed at gunpoint in November when moving into a new apartment. Officers reviewed the reports for the earlier shooting and the robbery and found Kirkland was a suspect in both.

In an arrest report released Thursday for Blanche, police said he was known to be associated with Kirkland, based on Instagram and Facebook messages. GPS data from Kirkland’s and Blanche’s phones matched on the night of the shooting, police said.

Video footage from a car wash visited just before the shooting showed Kirkland was driving the car and Blanche was in the front seat with him. Another person, whose name was redacted from both arrest reports, was in the back seat.

When officers went to arrest Blanche at his girlfriend’s home in Henderson, they found a Smith & Wesson firearm reported stolen from Las Vegas in January, police said.

Blanche told police he was in the rental car and even returned it afterward, but he did not shoot at Holmes and the woman in his car.

He is being held on $150,000 bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 5.

A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Holmes’ name.