Woman detained in ex-husband’s death
A man was fatally shot Friday morning in southern Las Vegas, police said, and his ex-wife was in handcuffs.
The woman called police at 8:08 a.m. from her home at Jovanna apartments, 2720 W. Serene Ave., to report that she had killed the man, according to Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson.
“There was some type of altercation that occurred inside of the apartment. It’s not clear what,” Johansson said. “As a result of that altercation, the female admittedly shot the male inside of the apartment.”
The man, who Johansson said was 56 years old, died in one of the back bedrooms from multiple gunshot wounds.
Johansson said the woman was detained, and she was cooperating with the investigation. Detectives were still trying to determine if she acted in self defense.
“Is it nefarious, is there an actual murder or are we working on a self-defense investigation?” Johansson said.
The couple had no registered restraining or protective orders with the courts, Johansson said, and he was not sure how long they had been separated. The man did not live at the woman’s apartment.
Johansson said no children were inside the home, and a dog living in the apartment was temporarily given to another family member.
Detectives did not have a history of calls related to the family, Johansson said.
“It is is frustrating,” Johansson said. “We have dealt with, in my opinion, a significant increase in domestic violence-related murders. This appears at this time to be a domestic violence-related murder. Oftentimes, things go unreported to our department, and by the time they get reported to our department, unfortunately we are in a circumstance such as this.”
He urged victims of domestic violence to seek help from the Family Justice Center, Metro or other local organizations. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 800-799-7233.
Residents also can call SafeNest any hour at 702-646-4981. The organizations serves as a shelter for women and children and works with all victims to get temporary protective orders and potentially prosecute abusers.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
