Murder suspect, 14, told Las Vegas police he did not pull trigger

Miguel Magallon joined a street gang three months before provoking the fight that led to the killing of a fellow gang member, according to his arrest report.

But the 14-year-old suspect has denied pulling the trigger, saying that two other gang members with him that night opened fired.

Still, he has been charged as an adult with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and discharging a firearm within or from a structure or vehicle, court records show.

The charges of murder and discharging a firearm also have a gang crime enhancement, which would add from one to 20 years onto his prison sentence for each charge if he is convicted, according to the state statute.

When all was said and done that night on Oct. 26, Aaron Rodriguez was left bleeding in the roadway on Pecos Road, his body surrounded by at least 17 .40-caliber casings, according to the report.

The 18-year-old man died at University Medical Center.

Five days later, a tip that Magallon was involved in the shooting led Metropolitan Police Department detectives to the teen, who agreed to speak with police but asked that his father not be in the room during the interview.

At the beginning of the interview, Magallon said he had been “jumped” into a street gang about three months prior to the shooting. He would have been 13 at the time, according to jail records.

In the moments leading up to the shooting, Magallon told detectives, he and the other gang members, identified in the report only by their street names, “Vago” and “Corta,” were riding in Vago’s dark pickup truck when they spotted Rodriguez walking down Pecos.

“Where are you from?” Vago yelled out the window, according to the report.

“Nowhere,” Rodriguez apparently replied.

At that point, Magallon told police, he got out of the car to confront Rodriguez, whom he recognized as “Boxer,” a member of his gang. He wanted to fight Rodriguez because he “didn’t claim his gang or neighborhood.”

In the days following the shooting, witnesses told police, Magallon also had said Rodriguez was “weak and didn’t know how to hang,” the report stated.

Magallon said Vago and Corta began shooting while he was talking to Rodriguez, according to the report. As Rodriguez fell to the ground screaming, the trio sped away in Vago’s pickup truck.

At the time of Magallon’s arrest, which followed the interview, detectives had not identified Vago or Corta. It was not immediately clear Friday whether the pair has since been located, although court records on Friday did not list any co-defendants in the case.

In a text message to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday, District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Magallon “may be the youngest person ever charged with murder” in Clark County.

Magallon is being held without bail at the county jail, and a status hearing for negotiations in the case is set for April 16 in Las Vegas Justice Court, records show.

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