Las Vegas woman shot in 2002 dies nearly 16 years later
The gunshot that would end Adriann Gallegos’ life was fired nearly 16 years before her death.
After a decade and a half of limited mobility, depression and trips to the hospital, Gallegos, 37, died in her sleep at Horizon Specialty Hospital in Las Vegas on May 6. The Clark County coroner ruled the cause as “complications of gunshot wound” and the manner of her death a homicide.
“My sister struggled so bad,” Teresa Gallegos said through tears. “She struggled so, so bad.”
On the morning of June 26, 2002, Zeferino Elizondo approached Adriann Gallegos’ downtown Las Vegas apartment on Grant Street, near Washington Avenue and H Street.
He knocked on the door; she opened it and saw a gun, court records show. Elizondo fired multiple rounds through the door, striking her in the upper back once and grazing her once as she ran away. A neighbor called police, who found her in the home. An arrest warrant was issued for Elizondo that day, but more than a month passed before he was taken into custody, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
During her testimony in court, Adriann Gallegos told jurors that Elizondo was looking for money, but her sister said that story was a front.
“From what I gathered, he was jealous because his brother had her and he didn’t,” Teresa Gallegos said Wednesday, referring to conversations with her sister.
With the help of family, Adriann Gallegos would spend the next year learning how to feed herself, bathe herself and sit up on her own. She’d never walk again.
Before Elizondo was sentenced to prison for up to 17 1/2 years for attempted murder, Adriann Gallegos took the stand to address him in 2003.
“You know what you did, and you hurt me and my kids,” she said, according to court transcripts. “Not so much me, but it’s my kids. My 3-year-old daughter has to grow up so fast now.”
Adriann Gallegos’ focus remained on her two young children, Korinna, now 18, and Isaiah, now 16. At a young age, her daughter helped her change clothes, and both children helped her in and out of the shower. On days their mother didn’t have the strength to get out of bed, the children would bring her food.
“She held it on until we were old enough to know that we could do it on our own if we didn’t have her around,” her daughter said.
In the years leading up to her death, Adriann Gallegos suffered from severe bedsores that forced her to visit hospitals on several occasions. She fell into spells of depression. When she couldn’t care for the children, extended family stepped in to help.
“She carried a lot of pain and sorrow in her life, but she just masked it with a smile,” said her sister Maria Gallegos.
Police said the case was submitted to the Clark County district attorney’s office for further review. The district attorney’s office said it has not received any additional submissions. Prison officials would not say whether Elizondo is still in custody.
“I don’t think that he should be out here having freedom,” Korinna Gallegos said. “My mom didn’t have the freedom that she wanted.”
Adriann Gallegos is survived by her children, Korinna and Isaiah Gallegos; her sisters, Teresa, Maria and Priscilla Gallegos; her mother, Dorothy Salazar; and her grandchildren, Emelene Gallegos and Athena Vazquez.
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
