Food truck owner raises funds for mother, two children shot to death

Isiah Robinson’s food truck was almost sold out Thursday afternoon, three hours after starting a fundraiser in the Historic Westside for the funeral expenses of Schinara Patterson, a 34-year-old mother, and two of her children, all of whom were slain.

“I grew up with her as a childhood friend, went to high school with her, the whole nine (yards),” said Robinson, 31, outside his Trap Wingz eatery in the parking lot of MLK Plaza, 1000 Martin Luther King Blvd.

“It’s just something God put in my heart to do,” said Robinson, who attended Valley High School with Patterson. “She was a great person. Giddy, uppity, smiling, energetic, just a fun person all the way around. A great soul.

“She was a great mother,” he added. “Go to the moon and back for her kids.”

Robinson announced Wednesday on social media he would donate proceeds from the sale of his chicken wings — smothered in sauce and paired with fries, burger sliders, waffles or eggs — to raise money to assist with costs related to the burial of Patterson and her daughters, Ki’Zaiah Cone, 14, and Zi’Myra Patterson, 6.

All three of their bodies were discovered Monday morning, shot to death by Schinara Patterson’s husband Marvin Ray Patterson, 43, who then committed suicide, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

A fourth child, who was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital Monday and described as “clinging to life.” No update was available Thursday on the child’s condition.

Police were called by a man Monday morning who reported finding several people dead at the Loreto &Palacio Apartments near Durango Drive and U.S. Highway 95.

Schinara Patterson’s sister, Micheala Bernoudy, 24, launched an online fundraiser and appeared briefly outside Robinson’s truck to place a sign in the food order window with photos of the mother and the two girls.

Bernoudy, who was in hurry to see the bodies at a mortuary, said she hoped the charity efforts bring in funds “to bury her (sister) and send her off in a good way.”

A steady steam of people came by to line up at the order window and buy food for the cause.

“It was a sad situation,” said Elaine Branch, 43, of Las Vegas, as she waited for her order. “Nobody should have to go through that situation at all. They definitely need our support.”

Kim Smith, 42, said she knew the Pattersons when they lived in a different apartment complex in northwest Las Vegas before the family moved blocks away to the Loreto &Palacio Apartments.

“Nice family,” Smith said. “They used to come by and play. Nice kids. The wife kind of quiet. But nice people.”

“It’s sad, it’s very sad,” Smith said of the murder-suicide. “You just never know what’s going on with people. You never know what’s the last thing that’s going to push them over the limit.”

“I just think like around this time, it gets harder for everybody, like Christmas is coming, bills are still due, especially if you have children,” she said. “So financial stress alone.”

At the time of the shooting, Marvin Patterson was facing charges including five counts of lewdness with a child under 14, lewdness with a child under 16, kidnapping of a minor and two counts of sexual assault against a child under 16, court records show.

He had been released on house arrest last year in the child sex abuse case, according to officials and court records.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.