Man who killed mother, bystander during Las Vegas carjacking rampage may have prepared for conflict with police
By: Authorities say five Las Vegas police officers and Nevada State Troopers opened fire on a murder suspect during the series of pursuits through the southwest valley on Wednesday.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police say two of their officers, Jacob Mekeel and Timothy Brooks, were involved. Both have been with LVMPD since 2018 and are assigned to the west community policing division in Enterprise Area Command.
The three Nevada State Police troopers are Martin Moran, Danny Kincaid and Luis Villanueva. All three are assigned to NSP's Southern Command and have been with the agency since 2019, 2023 and 2017, respectively.
All five have been placed on routine paid administrative leave, pending a review of the incident, according to LVMPD.
The five officers shot at Justin Davidson during a series of pursuits on Wednesday in the southwest valley.
Officers first responded to the area of Placid Street and Maulding Avenue on reports of a shooting. Detectives learned that Davidson shot and killed his mother while in a nearby wash, according to Lt. Jason Johansson.
While taking cover after hearing shots, officers on the scene saw Davidson steal one of their patrol cars. He led police on a pursuit to the 7300 block of S. Durango Drive, where he stole a citizen's vehicle in a carjacking.
The pursuit continued to the 8500 block of Blue Diamond Road, where Davidson carjacked another person, according to LVMPD Capt. Joshua Martinez. An officer saw this and opened fire, but Davidson drove away, and the pursuit continued to Windmill Lane and Durango, where Nevada State Police located the vehicle. An LVMPD officer arrived and Davidson fired a shot.
"Officers witnessed the citizen in the vehicle being removed and was injured," Martinez said. LVMPD later confirmed that the citizen was pronounced dead at the scene. The Clark County Coroner’s office has not officially confirmed his name, but his wife identified him as Jerry Lopez.
Davidson fled in Lopez's car, and officers opened fire, hitting the car multiple times. Martinez said the pursuit ended at Durango and Agate Avenue after Davidson's car became disabled.
SWAT units approached the car after not seeing any movement inside, and determined Davidson was dead. The cause and manner of his death have not been released.