Friend wants spotlight turned from suspect in random shooting to victim

The immediate hours after Curtis Abraham was randomly targeted by a gunman outside a Las Vegas convenience store live with one of his close friends as vivid images replaying in a torturous loop.

They began with a grim phone call that awakened Malachi Miles at about 7 a.m. on Nov. 4 with the news that Abraham was dead.

Still, he needed to make sure. After all, the information came from someone who had heard it from someone else.

Miles, 24, jumped out of bed and rushed to 7730 S. Jones Blvd., a nearby address he had seen online in a news story about a fatal shooting.

Upon arrival, Miles saw that Short Line Express Market was surrounded by yellow crime-scene tape. Red-and-blue lights beamed in the morning sky as he spotted an ambulance and a white sedan with bullet holes.

Desperate for information, Miles prodded police at the scene: “Curtis Abraham,” he told them, describing a small-framed man with dreadlocks and red dye in his hair.

Eventually, an officer mentioned enough descriptors to confirm Miles’ fear: The 36-year-old had died at University Medical Center.

“I was just in shock,” Miles recently told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I didn’t really know how to feel at the time. I was very confused.”

That confusion has morphed into the ongoing pain of knowing he did not get to say goodbye to his friend, who was gunned down for no apparent reason.

Suspect in custody

The Metropolitan Police Department alleges that Jesus Javier Uribe, 22, arrived at the store on foot shortly after midnight and pumped bullets into two cars. The first was unoccupied, but Abraham was sitting in the driver’s seat of the other one, waiting for a friend to exit the store.

Abraham was listening to music, which is why he likely did not hear the initial gunshots, Miles said.

Wearing a gun belt and a tactical vest, the shooter was caught on surveillance video inside the store, where he indiscriminately opened fire, missing three people he targeted, police said.

He stole alcohol before he left.

Uribe was in handcuffs the following afternoon, denying to detectives that he was the shooter. A possible motive has not surfaced.

That is a haunting realization for Miles, but so is Abraham’s death, he said.

“Even if Uribe says, ‘I was just in a bad mood. I just decided to kill somebody,’ that would not sit well with me because nothing that you can say is going to give me that closure,” Miles said.

Uribe, who faces a murder charge, is next due in court Jan. 11. Court records reflect that he refused to be transported to court the day after the shooting.

Immediately after confirming his friend’s death, Miles organized a candlelight vigil and returned to the scene of the crime with other mourners, including those in the Las Vegas film community that cherished Abraham as one of its own.

Standing among candles, Miles realized that he wanted his friend’s name and story to live on.

“I didn’t want all the spotlight to just be on Uribe,” he said. “I wanted Curtis’ name to hold more weight.”

Leaves behind daughter, 17

Relatives have organized an online fundraiser with proceeds going to Abraham’s 17-year-old daughter, Nyaja.

Abraham’s mother, June, released a statement Friday thanking the Las Vegas community for the “love and support during these terrible times.”

“There is nothing that can numb the pain or replace the bright star that Curtis was in our life,” she wrote. “We feel broken and lost; our life will never be the same again. My son’s life was stolen, and we want justice, but it is comforting to see the love from the second family he found in Vegas.”

In a phone interview later that evening from Baltimore, June Abraham remembered her son as a quiet, artistic child who cherished drawing and reading comic books.

“His loss means a lot to me. That was my oldest son,” she said. “It was shocking and devastating, and I still can’t believe it. It hurts.”

The woman said Curtis was the oldest of her three children and also had two stepsiblings. She said he was born in Baltimore and moved to Las Vegas about seven years ago.

His daughter planned to visit him in February to mark her 18th birthday.

“He loved his daughter, and she is broken,” June Abraham said. “She is so broken.”

‘Jack-of-all-trades’

Miles said Abraham spoke about a rough upbringing and his move to the valley for the opportunity of a new life.

He was working a maintenance job when he began to pursue a career in entertainment, founding Final Focus Productions and filming a music video with rapper Doja Cat.

The following year, Miles and Quintin Adams were constructing a spacious studio and needed someone to erect a wall.

Abraham fell into that crew by chance after their first hire fell through.

Soon, though, they learned that they had just met a “jack-of-all-trades,” who was not only an expert in plumbing, construction and electrical work, but also in film and photography.

The trio formed iFocus Digital Media Group in 2020.

Abraham, who had used the term “team no sleep” and coined “levels to my hustle,” stayed true to the phrases, working long and grueling, though pleasurable, hours.

His strong work ethic was admirable and contagious, Miles said.

A strong friendship was born on set.

Abraham was a “goofy individual” who was easy to share a joke or a laugh with, Miles said.

If they disagreed, Abraham was not one to lash out. He was impossible to dislike and a master networker, something that helped keep the business afloat during the pandemic.

He dreamed of being an actor, and had he not been killed, he would have done so, Miles insisted.

Dr. Marguerite Brathwaite, who spoke outside a court hearing a day after the killing, said she met Abraham on a movie set in 2018. Her young daughter was acting in a movie he was filming.

Abraham quickly became the middle man between the production and mother and daughter.

Although he was only a camera operator, he made sure they felt comfortable, she said.

Remembering shared fun

While thinking about Abraham, Miles said, he would rather remember the fun they had.

Like the time they were physically preparing a musician friend to go on tour. Miles, a former football player, was used to working out. Abraham was not.

“He was so sore to the point where he literally couldn’t move, like walk,” Miles said. “And I remember he was in a playful way, he was cursing me out.”

Or that time a couple of months ago when Abraham fell asleep at a friend’s house. The friends filmed him on his own phone. “And then we all left the house,” Miles said.

“So, he kind of woke up and went through his phone,” Miles said. The panicked phone calls followed.

Abraham was convinced that a supernatural force, perhaps a ghost, had recorded him.

He bolted from the house, Miles said.

About a week before Abraham died, on two separate days, Miles nearly crossed paths with him on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas. For one reason or another, they did not link up.

“I’ll see him again,” Miles thought. “I’ll see him another time.”

“I think that’s something I’ll have to live with, knowing that it could’ve been my last time seeing him,” Miles said. “But I just assumed that obviously nothing bad is going to happen.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.