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Man charged with shooting bystander in Las Vegas road rage

Updated September 9, 2020 - 1:06 pm

Las Vegas police have arrested a 27-year-old after he allegedly shot at another car during a road rage incident, striking a bystander who was holding her infant grandson, according to police documents.

About 10 p.m. Thursday, the Metropolitan Police Department’s gunfire detection network, ShotSpotter, notified officers of a shooting on the 4700 block of Pennwood Avenue, a residential area near Decatur Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, according to Metro records and an arrest report. Other 911 callers said a woman had been shot in her left hand.

The woman told police she was sitting in her front yard holding her 4-month-old grandson when she heard yelling and multiple “boom boom boom” noises, the report said. She said she saw two vehicles drive by and felt a “sharp and burning sensation” in her hand before realizing she had been shot.

The infant was not harmed, the report said.

Surveillance footage and witnesses led police to the owner of a Chevrolet Camaro, who said he was involved in a road rage incident near Pennwood and Arville Street. He said a woman driving a van with a man in the passenger seat honked at him, and he confronted them at a stoplight, the report said.

The man in the van’s passenger seat then pointed a gun at the Chevrolet’s driver, who started following the van past the light, the report said. While following the van, he heard gunshots, so the driver made a U-turn and drove away.

The driver didn’t report the shooting because “he didn’t think the police would do anything since he wasn’t shot,” the report said.

Investigators then spoke with the woman who was driving the van. She initially said she had shot at the Chevrolet, but then admitted it was her boyfriend, Anthony Wright, who fired the gun while he was in the passenger seat, the report said.

Investigators determined the shooter fired at least 12 times. After the driver asked Wright why he fired the gun, he told her, ‘We all know what he was reaching for I was trying to protect us,” the report said.

When speaking with police, Wright denied “any part in the shooting,” the report said. He was arrested Sunday, court records show.

On Wednesday, Wright was charged with battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, assault with a deadly weapon, and discharging a gun within a structure or prohibited area, according to court records.

In connection with a separate shooting, Wright in March pleaded guilty to a felony charge of battery with a deadly weapon, court documents show. In September 2016, he pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of attempted battery resulting in substantial bodily harm.

Wright has not been granted bail, and he remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday, jail records show. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23.

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

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