Second suspect arrested in northwest Las Vegas fatal shooting
Las Vegas police have arrested a second suspect in connection with a deadly shooting in July at a northwest condominium complex, the Review-Journal has learned.
Darzell Jauwan Victor, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday on charges of murder with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder and discharging a gun into an occupied structure. He is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center, according to jail records.
Victor’s arrest comes just over three months after his alleged co-conspirator, Alvester John Asaieahea Wilson, was taken into custody following an hourslong standoff police on the 9700 block of Fox Estate Street, in the southwestern valley. Wilson, 28, has been in custody in the detention center since his July 16 arrest, according to the records.
The victim, 20-year-old Michael Rakem Menephee, died from a gunshot wound to his head on July 6 at University Medical Center, three days after he was hospitalized in critical condition.
Las Vegas police have said Menephee was shot shortly after answering the front door of a Desert Shores Villas condo, at 3151 N. Soaring Gulls Drive. Menephee’s sister was inside the apartment, and his mother was in the parking lot at the time of the shooting, police said.
According to a recently released arrest report, Victor told police that he and Wilson had gone to the apartment “to buy some cocaine and pills,” but Victor told police he didn’t know about Wilson’s plan to rob Menephee.
He told police that when they got to the apartment, they shook Menephee’s hand and then, after a brief conversation, Wilson shot him in the head.
The suspects were seen leaving the complex in a 2008 white Ford Focus, which detectives later determined belonged to Wilson’s mother.
Victor is expected in Las Vegas Justice Court on Nov. 6 for his preliminary hearing. Wilson’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 14, records show.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
