Transient accused of shooting at pizza delivery man in Las Vegas

Las Vegas police say a gunman opened fire on a pizza delivery driver in southeast Las Vegas last week, prompting the arrest of a transient man on an attempted murder charge and other felonies.

According to a Las Vegas police arrest report, a Domino’s pizza delivery driver told police that he was attempting to deliver a pizza to an apartment on the 3400 block of Villa Knolls Way, near East Tropicana Avenue and Pecos Road, at 9:30 p.m. April 22.

The driver said he could not find the residence where the pizza was supposed to be delivered and started walking through the area looking for the address when he encountered a man and woman. The woman asked for a piece of pizza, but the delivery driver “laughed it off” and continued to walk away, the report said. The man then asked the delivery driver where he’d parked his car, but the delivery man ignored the comment.

Moments later, when the driver returned to his vehicle, the same man walked up and fired multiple shots from a handgun at the delivery driver as he sat in his car. The vehicle was struck at least six times by bullets from a .40-caliber handgun, but the driver was not injured, police said. He fled and called police, who found nine shell casings at the scene.

Las Vegas police said that the next day they encountered a man and woman matching the description of the couple from the shooting near Tropicana and Pecos. Officers stopped the pair and inspected a backpack belonging to the man, identified by police as Jorge Hernandez, 24.

In the backpack, police found two loaded handguns, including a .40-caliber weapon. Casings from the weapon appeared to match casings found at the scene of the shooting the night earlier, and the woman who was with Hernandez told police that he had fired shots “into the air” while confronting the pizza delivery driver. She claimed the driver had insulted the couple.

Hernandez was listed by police as a transient with no home address. He has been charged with attempted murder, discharging a weapon into a vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and having a gun with a serial number removed. Las Vegas Justice Court records show a preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for May 11.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.