I saw another news truck in front of my house this afternoon so I turned the news on to see the latest about my neighbors. Apparently, the man involved in the shooting had been arrested at least 19 times for domestic disturbance, had been convicted 4 times, was in and out of prison for a year, and was one of the first to be charged with a felony domestic strangulation under a new law in Nevada. His victim refused to testify so the felony charges were dropped. Seriously. Why?? I don't understand why you would live like that. I feel really sorry for the multiple children that lived in that home and shudder to think what they witnessed.
It also makes me mad. Because of her being unwilling to testify, I have had to try to explain things to my 5-year-old and 3-year-old that they don't need to know about. I have done my best to tell the truth while down playing it all. You know it is really sad to hear your 5-year-olds prayers "thank you that the yellow tape could come down so we could go home, thank you that we could close the garage door before the police came, please bless that the red and blue lights will go off before my dad gets home." Very Sad...Jeff wasn't with us when we drove up to our house at 8:00 on Monday night only to have more police show up for crowd control next door. I think Sammy was worried that the police would not let us go into our house again if we didn't get the garage closed. I also think she was worried that her dad wouldn't be able to get to our house if their lights were still on. My 5-year-old has enough to worry about without all of this. I hope we are able to move soon so we can get away from the constant reminder of the day when the police wouldn't let my kids go home. They kept asking all afternoon why we couldn't go home...it was sad.
I must also say that I am VERY grateful that we ended up spending 2 hours at McDonalds so that we were not home when the shooting happened. I am also VERY grateful that preschool was NOT at my house on Monday so we didn't have to listen to the fighting. It is amazing to me how things like this work out and we stay protected. There were many prayers of thanks that went out on Monday that we were kept out of harms way.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Drama on Copper Pine
When I woke up on Monday, I knew my day was going to be busy but I had no idea what was coming my way!! I was supposed to teach preschool at my house but it was changed to one of the preschoolers houses because I had a meeting that morning. I had a baby-sitting co-op meeting at my house at 9:15-10:00 or so which meant I had LOTS of kids playing in my little backyard while the moms were all coordinating sits for the month. No big deal. I left my house at about 10:15 to run to Kohl's before picking up Andrea and her friend from preschool at 11:00. After I dropped her friend off (who happens to live behind us) we ran to Smiths to pick up some ingredients to make a cake for Jeff (it was his birthday on Monday). I did all that in just enough time to make it to Sammy's school to pick up carpool. It also happened to be my friend's daughters birthday that day so we had decided to do lunch together for her birthday. We were going to make lunch at my house or go somewhere. We decided to go to McDonald's to eat and let the kids play. My friend, Kris, and I invited our other friend Brooks to come with us (Brooks lives behind me).
We all went to McDonald's and had a good time. The adults all talked and the kids all played. They loved it so much that before I knew it we had been at McDonald's for 2 hours!! I decided to leave but thought I would let the kids go sing Happy Birthday to Jeff before we went home. His work was just down the street from McDonalds. As I was driving down the street to Jeff's work, I had three police cars race by me with their lights and sirens on. I thought, "I wonder if there is an accident. Or, I have always heard if you want North Las Vegas Police to respond quickly you just have to meantion that a gun is involved...I wonder if there was a shooting somewhere." Then we went on to Jeff's work...spent about 15 minutes there and drove home.
As I pulled into my community, my street was blocked off by a police car and cones. I could see police cars and other emergency vehicles about half way down the street so I figured that something happened in the middle of the block. I pulled up by the police officer and asked him if I would be able to get to my house if I went to the other end of the street. He said I might. So, I tried it. Didn't work. There were MORE police cars at the end of the street. I pulled up close to the police and got out of my car to ask if there was any way I would be able to get to my house that was 4 houses up. The officer said it was bad but he would ask if he could escort me to my house on foot. He asked me to move my car so he could put up police tape so I did. I should have given up then...police tape is not a good thing! I parked my car, got the kids out and went to wait in the HOT sun. We waited for what seemed like a very long time (especially with kids complaining about needing a drink and being hot) but it was probably only 5 minutes. As we were waiting on the corner next to the police tape, there was a girl that drove her car up and ran around the police tape. I asked if she knew what was happening and she said she didn't. I could see LOTS of people congregating on the other end of the street by the police tape. HMMM.......I wondered if something happened at the house NEXT to mine......the people that live there are a little crazy and there are a lot of people living there.... The police officer finally came back and said he could escort us to our house. Then he got a police car and had us get in. I thought it was a little strange because my house is only 4 houses in from the end of the street we were by. I finally asked the police officer if they were at *** Copper Pine. He looked at me and said yes. I said that I lived in the house directly next to that one. He just told me that I would be getting new neighbors...My wheels were turning....
He drove us to the top of the street and started walking us down the street. The kids thought it was cool to ride in a police car!! We got halfway down the street when I heard a neighbor talking about a shooting...I was starting to see what was going on! Then, another police officer started walking up the street so my police escort was explaining where we were going. She said there was no way they were going to let us in when I lived that close. I finally told the officer I was with that he can cal and check because I don't want him to get in trouble. He called...the detectives said NO!! So, we walked back down the street and went to a friends house.
We finally got back into our house at 8:00 PM that night. It was a long day. The best part is that when we were pulling into our garage (just me and the kids...Jeff was back at work) about 4 or 5 police cars pulled back up in front of my house with helmets on and started talking to all the people that were congregating in front of the neighbors house.
So, you might be wondering what happened. Apparently one of the female adults that lived in the house next door had been fighting with her boyfriend most of the day when the boyfriend finally shot her and himself. The result...A nice murder-suicide at the house next to mine. The cops had to return (when I was getting home) because there was contention among the family members and friends of the two dead people.
This is the report from a local TV station:
North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Family members couldn't contain their anguish at the scene of an apparent murder - suicide in North Las Vegas. Police discovered the bodies of 31 year old Tamequa Williams and 35 year old Nahshun Lomax, on Monday afternoon in the 300 block of Copper Pine Avenue. That's near 5th Street and El Campo Grande Avenue.
Police received a 911 call from the home at 1:19pm about an argument at the house. When police arrived at the home they knocked on the door and nobody answered. Police then left.
At 2:06pm police received another 911 call from the home about a fight in progress. Shots were reportedly fired during the call. When officers arrived, they went into the home and found two people dead.
Family members say Williams and Lomax were boyfriend and girlfriend.
"We know he shot her then turned around and shot himself," said Patricia Reeves, aunt of the woman killed. "Jealousy. He loved her so much that I guess he killed her."
Patricia Reeves identifies her niece as a mother of three. She says two children were inside the home as this violence was unraveling.
"I'd advise any woman that's out there, leave those jealous mans alone," Reeves went on to say.
Several relatives broke down at the scene and were treated by arriving ambulances for emotional distress.
It's unclear who placed both 911 calls from inside the home. Police also say a third 911 call was made from outside the home.
While it's confirmed that shots were fired in this dispute, police will not say what injuries led to these two deaths.
Autopsy results are pending from the Clark County Coroner's Office.
We all went to McDonald's and had a good time. The adults all talked and the kids all played. They loved it so much that before I knew it we had been at McDonald's for 2 hours!! I decided to leave but thought I would let the kids go sing Happy Birthday to Jeff before we went home. His work was just down the street from McDonalds. As I was driving down the street to Jeff's work, I had three police cars race by me with their lights and sirens on. I thought, "I wonder if there is an accident. Or, I have always heard if you want North Las Vegas Police to respond quickly you just have to meantion that a gun is involved...I wonder if there was a shooting somewhere." Then we went on to Jeff's work...spent about 15 minutes there and drove home.
We finally got back into our house at 8:00 PM that night. It was a long day. The best part is that when we were pulling into our garage (just me and the kids...Jeff was back at work) about 4 or 5 police cars pulled back up in front of my house with helmets on and started talking to all the people that were congregating in front of the neighbors house.
So, you might be wondering what happened. Apparently one of the female adults that lived in the house next door had been fighting with her boyfriend most of the day when the boyfriend finally shot her and himself. The result...A nice murder-suicide at the house next to mine. The cops had to return (when I was getting home) because there was contention among the family members and friends of the two dead people.
This is the report from a local TV station:
North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Family members couldn't contain their anguish at the scene of an apparent murder - suicide in North Las Vegas. Police discovered the bodies of 31 year old Tamequa Williams and 35 year old Nahshun Lomax, on Monday afternoon in the 300 block of Copper Pine Avenue. That's near 5th Street and El Campo Grande Avenue.
Police received a 911 call from the home at 1:19pm about an argument at the house. When police arrived at the home they knocked on the door and nobody answered. Police then left.
At 2:06pm police received another 911 call from the home about a fight in progress. Shots were reportedly fired during the call. When officers arrived, they went into the home and found two people dead.
Family members say Williams and Lomax were boyfriend and girlfriend.
"We know he shot her then turned around and shot himself," said Patricia Reeves, aunt of the woman killed. "Jealousy. He loved her so much that I guess he killed her."
Patricia Reeves identifies her niece as a mother of three. She says two children were inside the home as this violence was unraveling.
"I'd advise any woman that's out there, leave those jealous mans alone," Reeves went on to say.
Several relatives broke down at the scene and were treated by arriving ambulances for emotional distress.
It's unclear who placed both 911 calls from inside the home. Police also say a third 911 call was made from outside the home.
While it's confirmed that shots were fired in this dispute, police will not say what injuries led to these two deaths.
Autopsy results are pending from the Clark County Coroner's Office.
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