Former airman gets 18 to life in slaying of neighbor

A former U.S. Air Force airman must spend 18 years to life in prison for shooting and killing his neighbor after an argument over noise during a Monday Night Football game, a Clark County judge decided Friday.

Demetrius Brock, also a former Nevada prison guard, shot Tyrolia Belt 14 times at the Falcon Landing apartments on Madre Mesa Drive in November 2012, prosecutors said.

“My actions were a manifestation of fear,” the 44-year-old Brock told District Judge David Barker at sentencing. The two had been “very respectful” neighbors for six months, Brock contended.

At a February trial, Brock claimed self defense, but a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and carrying a concealed weapon.

Brock had confronted Belt after he slammed a door, interrupting Monday Night Football on Brock’s TV, according to a police report. The quarrel escalated before Belt left with his wife, and Brock reported his neighbor to security.

When Brock walked out of his apartment several hours later to pick up dinner, he encountered Belt, who insulted him, authorities said.

Sitting in his Mercedes, Brock pulled a 9mm handgun from a fanny pack and held it behind the car door as Belt approached. Brock fired, stepped out of the car toward Belt and continued firing.

“This isn’t a man who was scared at all,” prosecutor Michael Schwartzer said. “He kept shooting until he ran out of bullets. … This was cold-blooded murder.”

Brock, who was not arrested until 10 months after the slaying as investigators built a case against him, told police he fired so many times because he was trained in the military to “neutralize threats.” During the sentencing hearing, Brock told the judge Belt approached him with his hand “concealed in his waistline. He makes no attempt to retreat. He says nothing, which intensified my fear that my life was in danger.”

Brock denied that he was upset with Belt for slamming the door, but Belt’s family didn’t believe the defendant.

“I don’t think he killed my brother,” Olton Gilbert said. “I think he executed him.”

Schwartzer called Belt “a rock to his family.”

Belt’s family members said he was a quiet man who rarely bothered anyone. He worked as a head safety inspector on a construction site near the border with California and helped coach football and basketball.

“I hope and pray you give him everything he’s got coming,” Gilbert said.

While Belt mostly kept to himself, Audrey Gilbert, his oldest sibling, said Belt would text his sisters “I love you” every morning.

“We don’t get that anymore,” she said.

Brock served 10 years in the Air Force, including a four-year stint in the Philippines, before being honorably discharged, according to family members and lawyers.

Brock said he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and manic depression before the shooting and has since undergone mental health therapy.

He asked Belt’s family for forgiveness, and a tear ran down his cheek.

“I’m full of pain,” he said. “I’m full of sorrow, and I’m full of grief for my actions that resulted in the death of my neighbor and my brother. I want the family to accept my sorrow and my sincere regret.”

Barker told Brock he could have ignored Belt, “and it all would have been over.” The judge pointed his finger at the defendant.

“When I see a life taken, there’s a life sentence,” Barker said. “I feel that’s morally correct.”

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.