DA reviewing ‘additional information’ in Vasquez murder
No charges have been filed in the nearly two years since 36-year-old Jeromy Vasquez was gunned down in front of a home on the west side of town, but that might change, according to Fourth Judicial District Attorney Richard Flores.
In an Optic story earlier this month, Chief of Police David Bibb said that all evidence in the 2018 homicide had been turned over to the district attorney’s office. Following that story, Flores confirmed to the Optic that the Las Vegas Police Department has turned over evidence in the case, but Flores said his office was told that “additional information” would follow.
“We hadn’t made a charging decision because we aren’t sure if the additional information changes the PD’s initial opinion of the matter,” Flores said in a Dec. 17 email. “Once I have received and reviewed (that information), I’m sure I will make (a) charging decision soon thereafter.”
Flores told the Optic on Dec. 19 that a “supplemental packet” had been provided to his office by LVPD, and that the information was in the process of being reviewed.
“Our process is that we will log in and upload any materials that may be part of the new packet,” Flores said in an email. “I will then assign (it) to my chief deputy for his review … I will then review and we will then get together and discuss (it) … there is a good chance that decision will not happen until the new year.”
Vasquez was shot and killed in the 2600 block of New Mexico Avenue on the morning of Jan. 21, 2018. First responders were unable to revive him at the scene, and the Office of the Medical Investigator later pronounced Vasquez dead.
Vasquez was shot five times, according to an autopsy report from OMI. The report found that Vasquez “died of multiple gunshot wounds,” and ruled his death a homicide.
One bullet struck Vasquez in the chest, traveled “downward,” and exited his stomach, according to the OMI report. Another entered his stomach. Three other bullets struck Vasquez in the back, with one of those exiting his chest.
“Two gunshots entered the right back and caused lethal injury to the lungs and the great vessels of the heart,” the autopsy summary stated. “A gunshot wound of the right abdomen injured the liver and spleen and caused bleeding into the abdomen. Gunshot wounds of the right chest and right shoulder injured skin and soft tissue.”
Two of those “projectiles” were recovered, and retained as evidence, according to the OMI report.
LVPD incident reports and police dispatch audio recordings from the day of the shooting indicate that, minutes after Vasquez was shot, a man named Albert Herrera arrived at Alta Vista Regional Hospital with a gunshot wound.
A woman who was with Herrera at the time of the shooting told police that an “irate” Vasquez came to the house on New Mexico Avenue armed with a pistol. She said she handed Herrera a gun, and that she heard gunshots after Herrera confronted Vasquez.
During interviews at the hospital, police also learned that following the shooting, Herrera went to his mother’s house, and from there, he was driven to the hospital in his mother’s SUV.
Somewhere between her home and the hospital, the gun used to shoot Vasquez was tossed from the window of the vehicle. The gun was never located.
LVPD executed a search warrant on Herrera’s home after the shooting, and according to incident reports, police located a loaded magazine for an AK-47-style rifle. Police also seized a “large amount” of U.S. currency.
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed in U.S. District Court in September, Herrera has served time in federal prison, and at the time of the shooting, he was on supervised probation for “drug distribution and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.”
After being questioned by police, Herrera was transported via helicopter from Alta Vista to an unnamed hospital. It does not appear he was ever arrested or questioned further.
