Three suspects arrested in connection with double homicide
Twenty-year-old Sasha Williams felt she was owed a television.
So she gathered muscle - three men - who police said broke into a south valley apartment Tuesday night with her in what should have been a simple home invasion.
The group snatched electronics, but they left behind the bodies of two apartment residents, Anthony Anderson and Evin Russell.
Both were fatally shot, according to Las Vegas police reports released Thursday that included Williams' statement to detectives.
The group's plan to get Williams her television began to disintegrate, police said, when Anderson fought back while her companions ransacked the home at the Harbor Island Apartments, on East Harmon Avenue near Paradise Road.
During the fight, Anderson was killed. But a third apartment resident, Laurice Brightman, who was shot in the buttocks during the chaos, jumped out of a window, the report said.
After escaping the apartment, Brightman heard at least four shots, the report said.
Brightman later gave detectives information that aided police in Wednesday's arrests of Maurice Sims, 22, Brandon Range, 23, and Williams, the report said.
The three were booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a slew of charges including two counts of murder with a deadly weapon, one count of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, three counts of burglary with a deadly weapon, home invasion, conspiracy to commit robbery and three counts of robbery with a deadly weapon.
Interviewed at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Brightman told police "Sasha" was an acquaintance who showed up at their home with three men about 8 p.m. Brightman refused to let them in, but the group showed guns and shoved their way in.
According to the report, it appeared Brightman didn't know Sasha's last name.
He also didn't know the men who were taking orders from her to gather valuables that included a television, cellphones, a Sony Play Station and a MacBook Pro, the report said.
Police quickly learned Sasha's last name.
They showed Brightman Williams' driver's license, and he identified her.
Police learned Williams had a boyfriend, Sims.
When interviewed by police, Williams changed her story several times but implicated Sims and Range in the crimes.
She consistently told investigators she was at the apartment to "collect a debt" and "collect a TV that was owed to her."
When Sims was interviewed by police, he only said "things got crazy" in the apartment but wouldn't elaborate, the report said.
Police found a MacBook Pro in his possession.
Range told police he knew Sims and Williams but didn't know the third man involved.
He told detectives that once at the apartment complex, Sims pulled out guns from the car trunk, offering him a fake gun followed by a real gun. Range decided to enter the apartment unarmed he told police, the report said.
He said Sims and the unidentified man were armed during the incident.
The report said Range thought about calling 911 after the shootings, but never did.
Brightman also identified Range, the report said.
Police have not said whether the fourth assailant involved had been arrested as of Thursday night.
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at
aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.
