Henderson police video shows woman who stabbed son, was fatally shot
Henderson police on Thursday released a graphic 911 call and body camera footage from an October police shooting that revealed a mother stabbed her 6-year-old son 25 times and later grabbed and fired an officer’s gun before she was killed.
About 12:10 p.m. Oct. 21, a 911 operator received a call from the Equestrian on Eastern Apartments, at 10701 S. Eastern Ave. During the phone call, a boy can be heard crying and pleading for help, at one point saying his mother was trying to kill him, according to records released Thursday.
The mother, 37-year-old Claudia Nadia Rodriguez, told the operator, “They’re trying to kill each other. They’re making us do it. We got to kill each other.”
The boy also can be heard saying, “Please don’t hurt me” multiple times.
The 911 call disconnected, and no one answered when police called back.
Police initially said the boy was 7 years old, but court and Department of Family Services records indicate he is 6.
According to a video statement released by police Thursday, the boy suffered 25 stab wounds before police arrived. He was taken to University Medical Center and was expected to survive.
When reached by phone Oct. 22, the child’s father said his son was “doing good.”
Video released Thursday showed two officers approaching an apartment door and one of the officers knocking. A boy covered in blood opened the door and walked outside, while the officer who knocked confronted the woman and asked, “What’s going on?”
The officer appeared to holster his gun before a struggle. At one point the woman is heard screaming, “You got to kill me!”
During the struggle, she fell to the ground, and the officer grabbed her legs.
The officer screamed, “She’s got a gun” as the other officer entered the room and shot the woman multiple times.
Police said Thursday that the woman was able to grab an officer’s gun and fire it once before she was shot.
Rodriguez grabbing and firing the gun, as well as the shooting itself, could not be clearly seen in the video. She died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
The department has identified the officers involved as Edward Little and Patrick McCarrick. It remained unclear Thursday which officer shot Rodriguez. Both were placed on routine paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
According to a Department of Family Services report, the department received seven referrals between June 2017 and May 2019 involving the child or the child’s family, but all were classified as “information only.”
On May 14, the department received a report alleging abuse, but an investigation found the allegation was unsubstantiated, the report said.
District Court records show that a Claudia Nadia Rodriguez was involved in a contentious custody dispute in 2017 regarding her son, identified in court records as Winston Lee Xavier Brandon.
Winston’s father, Willie Brandon Jr., first filed documents in February 2017 seeking primary physical custody of Winston. The documents allege that Rodriguez had a history of domestic violence and that she had “physically and mentally abused” her two older children from a previous relationship.
Rodriguez accused Brandon of making false claims to gain custody of the boy, court records show. As of December 2017, the parents had joint custody of Winston.
Rodriguez was arrested four times on suspicion of domestic battery between 2015 and March, according to Henderson Municipal Court records. She had one conviction for misdemeanor domestic battery after pleading guilty in January 2017.
The shooting remained under investigation Thursday, according to the video.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
