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Coroner rules 3rd death in June shooting as homicide

A June triple shooting inside a rental car left two men dead and Justin Brooks in critical condition. Months later, Brooks died of complications from the bullet he took to his head.

When Brooks was taken June 13 to University Medical Center, a doctor told detectives that bullet and bone fragments in his skull likely would cause further complications, a police document shows. The Clark County coroner’s office ruled the 26-year-old man’s Sept. 9 death a homicide.

“This was an assassination,” Veronica Nixon said of her son’s killing. “I watched my son fight for his life for almost four months.”

Callers to 911 on June 13 reported hearing gunshots, yelling and screaming. Officers arrived about 3:30 a.m. to the 4100 block of Silver Dollar Avenue, police said, and found three people in a car suffering from gunshot wounds. Brooks was the only person still alive.

Tory Barnett, 31, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, and front-seat passenger Jason Harvey, 36, died at the scene.

All three men were unarmed, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Dan McGrath said.

Four days later, police arrested Delon Holston in Inglewood, California. The 29-year-old suspect has been extradited to Clark County and is being held at the county jail, where he faces charges of murder with a deadly weapon, robbery and possession of a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

According to Holston’s arrest report, the mother of Holston’s three children told police that he attacked her hours before the shooting so he could take her car to meet the three victims.

Holston is due in court for his preliminary hearing Oct. 30.

Brooks’ death marks the 134th homicide in Clark County this year and the 113th investigated by Metro.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.

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