Henderson man charged with murder in father’s death
The son of a 76-year-old Henderson man whose April death was ruled a homicide has been charged with murder.
Henderson officers arrested Michael Edward Galang, 34, the morning of Jan. 31 on a murder charge with an enhancement that the victim was an older person, police spokeswoman Katrina Rothmeyer said Tuesday in an email.
He is the son of Arturo Galang, 76, who died April 18 at St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus, following a reported family fight on April 3. The Clark County coroner’s office ruled Arturo Galang died of “retroperitoneal hemorrhage due to traumatic rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysm due to an altercation.”
About 11:10 a.m. April 3, police were called to an apartment building on the 500 block of East Lake Mead Parkway to investigate reports of a domestic battery, according to Michael Galang’s arrest report. Officers found the man’s 37-year-old sister crying and “visibly upset” because of a fight with her brother.
The woman told police her brother got angry with her because she left their mother at home while taking Arturo Galang to a doctor’s appointment. She said Michael Galang and his girlfriend were at the home with their mother, who has Alzheimer’s, while she was away.
When the woman yelled back at her brother, he began punching her in the head and holding her to the ground while striking her, she told detectives. While on the phone with police, the report said, her brother started beating her with a water jug.
She said Arturo Galang “had tried to stop Michael” from hitting her a third time. She told police she saw her father fall to the ground. She then crawled out the front door where the officers found her, the report said.
Michael Galang left the apartment before officers arrived, the report said. When officers found him, he said the fight was a “normal brother and sister shoving match,” and he didn’t know how his father got hurt.
His sister told police she saw her father walk into an ambulance “holding his abdomen.” She told police she didn’t know if her brother’s girlfriend saw the fight, and that she didn’t see “exactly what had occurred between Michael and Arturo,” the report said.
The woman believed Arturo Galang did not slip because of the “force” of him falling. She said while he had recently visited a doctor for vertigo, she had not seen him fall while living with her family for about three years.
The day of the fight, detectives reviewed Arturo Galang’s medical records, in which a nursing assessment noted the man denied losing consciousness and said he was pushed by his son during an altercation, the report said.
“It should be noted that several times throughout the medical records it states that Arturo had gotten into an altercation and his son kicked him causing him to fall on stairs, Arturo was pushed down a flight of stairs, or Arturo lost his balance and fell down stairs,” the report said.
Arturo Galang received surgery for a ruptured aneurysm but developed kidney issues and became septic. He had a medical history of a heart attack, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, a pacemaker, and previously had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, the report said.
Police said Michael Galang was arrested on two counts of domestic battery. The domestic battery case was dismissed in Henderson Municipal Court without prejudice on the same day he was arrested on the murder charge in January.
He was being held Tuesday afternoon in Clark County Detention Center on $5,000 bail, jail records show.
He was ordered not to have any contact with his sister, and he has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 26 in Henderson Justice Court, court records show.
Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
