Clark County DA explains murder charge against Las Vegas store clerk
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson explained on Tuesday why prosecutors charged a store clerk with murder in the shooting death of a theft suspect.
Meanwhile, the clerk, 26-year-old Suse Antunez-Garcia, has posted bail after the fatal shooting of a man who was attempting to steal beer from a Las Vegas convenience store.
Wolfson said authorities found no evidence that the victim posed a threat or was carrying a weapon.
“It basically comes down to the law of self-defense,” he said. “In this case, we don’t believe that was the case. You can’t kill a person who’s merely doing a beer run. Under those circumstances, she acted unreasonably, unjustifiably, and therefore we’ve charged her with murder.”
Antunez-Garcia was placed on electronic monitoring after posting her $10,000 bail, according to court records.
Shortly before 6:15 a.m. on Friday, Robert Lee Cook, 56, and a woman took off with at least three cases of beer from the Stateside Express convenience store at 950 Las Vegas Blvd. North, near Washington Avenue, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Antunez-Garcia and the store manager followed the pair outside to a vehicle, where a man was waiting, homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said during a news briefing at the scene.
The woman was able to get into the vehicle, but the manager pulled Cook out of the car as he was getting in, leading to a “very brief” struggle, Spencer said.
Cook broke free from the manager’s grip, and as he was getting back into the car, Antunez-Garcia fired two rounds into the car, striking him twice in the lower abdomen and “leg area,” Spencer said.
The vehicle sped off but about 15 minutes later showed up at University Medical Center, where Cook was pronounced dead. The woman who also took beer from the gas station was not with the men when they arrived at the hospital, Spencer said.
Antunez-Garcia was arrested later Friday on a murder charge.
Wolfson said his office regularly prosecutes similar cases.
In 2015, a former 7-Eleven clerk was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for shooting a would-be beer thief as he ran from the store.
Mariano Tejeda-Zuniga, 56, was convicted by a jury of battery with a deadly weapon and possession of stolen property. The jury acquitted him of one count of attempted murder with a deadly weapon.
Kallum Smith suffered a single gunshot wound to the back of the head from a stolen .45-caliber pistol, prosecutors said. Smith survived.
About a year ago, a Las Vegas smoke shop clerk was sentenced to probation for shooting and killing a 13-year-old boy who had rushed into the store wearing a mask and hoodie.
Raad Sunna pleaded guilty to one count of aiming a firearm at a human being in the Dec. 2, 2016, shooting of Fabriccio Patti, who appeared to be running away as gunfire rang out inside Lucky Cigars and Smokes.
The clerk in that case originally faced a murder charge. He was 24 at the time of the shooting.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter. Contact Jessica Terrones at jt
