Suspect killed man in retaliation for gang shooting, police say

A 20-year-old man charged with murder is accused of committing the killing in retaliation for another gang-related fatal shooting, according to arresting documents.

Christopher Najera, who was charged with murder on June 21, was arrested in connection with the death of 25-year-old Tyreon Jackson, who was shot and killed May 5 while walking home on the 3500 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard, near Pecos Road. According to Najera’s arrest report, he was involved a gunfight between two groups on April 30 that left Najera injured and his friend, 17-year-old Noel Carbajal, dead.

Jackson was shot in retaliation for the shooting that killed Carbajal. Both killings were gang-related, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said.

Ryk Mosley, 28, of North Las Vegas, was arrested May 28 in connection with Carbajal’s death. News of both Najera and Mosley’s arrests were publicized Wednesday by Metro.

Las Vegas homicide and gang unit detectives connected the homicides and two other shootings to Najera through cartridge cases that matched the 20-year-old’s gun, according to his arrest report.

The first shooting happened April 20, when ShotSpotter, Metro’s gunshot detection system, notified police to gunfire at about 9:38 p.m. on the 4800 block of Sacks Drive, near Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Boulevard. Police found three cartridges cases in the area but did not find anyone who was injured.

Ten days later, a gunfight broke out between two group “following a dispute during a basketball game,” the report said. Officers were called about 11:45 p.m. April 30 to the Whitney Community Center, 5712 Missouri Ave., after receiving reports of gunfire nearby, but no one was at the scene when police arrived.

After the shooting, Najera and another man dropped off Carbajal at Henderson Hospital. Carbajal later died of a gunshot wound to his left leg with a vascular injury, and his death was ruled a homicide, the Clark County corner’s office has said.

Investigators later learned that Najera was shot in the leg during the gunfire but did not seek treatment for the injury, the report said.

Just before 11 p.m. May 4, ShotSpotter notified police to gunfire at the Biegger Estates apartment complex, 5701 Missouri Ave., the report said. Police determined someone fired into an apartment multiple times, but no one was injured.

The apartment was linked to a relative of someone involved in the shooting when Carbajal was killed, and a car seen in the area right before the shooting was linked to the other man who dropped off Carbajal at the hospital the night he died, the report said.

Detectives also determined that one of Jackson’s relatives lived in an apartment near the one targeted on May 4, and that Jackson was known to hang out in the complex.

About an hour and a half after the apartment shooting, Jackson was shot while walking home from a 7-Eleven in northeast Las Vegas. Jackson died at the scene of the shooting from a gunshot wound to the back, the coroner’s office has said.

Gang detectives who were surveilling Najera stopped him on May 20 when he was jaywalking near the Fremont Street Experience, and he was arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant, the report said. While serving a search warrant at his home, police found a handgun that was linked to the four shootings.

On June 17, Najera was rebooked into the Clark County Detention Center on a murder charge, police said.

Najera remained in jail on Friday without bail, court records show. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 12.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.