Suspected driver told mom he wasn’t involved in Tammy Meyers shooting

Derrick Andrews, the alleged getaway driver for suspected gunman Erich Nowsch, told his mother that he was not involved in the fatal shooting of Tammy Meyers, according to grand jury transcripts made public Friday.

Catherine Andrews testified that she specifically asked her son whether he was involved in the Feb. 12 shooting.

“He said he was not,” she said.

But she also testified that her son owned the silver 2000 Audi A6 prosecutors said followed Meyers to her home that night, and a police detective told the same grand jury that Andrews’ vehicle was captured on surveillance video from one of Meyers’ neighbors.

Andrews, 26, is accused of being behind the wheel when Nowsch fired 24 shots in front of the Meyers’ northwest valley home, with one hitting her in the head. She died two days later. Authorities have tested Andrews’ car for gunshot residue, but have not received the lab results.

In an interview with police, Andrews denied involvement in the Meyers shooting, according to detective Clifford Mogg.

But Andrews could not explain why cell phone tower activity records showed his phone in Meyers’ neighborhood, or why there was no communication between him and Nowsch between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. the night Meyers was killed.

“I don’t have an answer for why my phone was in that location,” he told the detective.

Andrews’ attorney, Martin Hart, said he had not yet had a chance to read the grand jury transcripts.

Andrews and Nowsch have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and discharge of a firearm from or within a structure or vehicle. Both are being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

The shootout was initially attributed to “road rage,” but a prosecutor said the deadly chain of events started when Meyers saw Andrews’ car and mistakenly thought it was one that had bumped her car earlier that night.

Nowsch told police he was in a park across the street from Johnson Junior High School when he noticed a green car that seemed to be following him. He thought the car was carrying people who had threatened him and his family.

Nowsch called friends for help, according to police, then climbed into the Audi.

Meyers, who thought the driver of the Audi had bumped into her car earlier in the night, was in a green Buick Park Avenue with her son, Brandon Meyers. She approached from behind and followed as Andrews drove away, prosecutor David Stanton said.

Nowsch, 19, was in the passenger seat of Andrews’ car with a Ruger .45-caliber handgun.

Meyers ultimately stopped her car in the cul-de-sac outside her home, where she was caught in a hail of gunfire. Brandon Meyers returned fire with his own pistol but hit no one.

Earlier this week, prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against Nowsch and Andrews.

Andrews told police he was asleep at his mother’s home at the time, and someone could have taken his phone.

But then he said he picked up Nowsch at 7 the next morning at a Del Taco at U.S. 95 and Jones Boulevard, getting a text and a phone call from Nowsch.

Prosecutor David Stanton asked the detective: “… When he had made the suggestion to you that maybe someone took his phone during the operative time periods when Miss Meyers was murdered, did that make much sense to you?”

“It did not,” Mogg said.

Andrews’ phone records show calls and text messages to a “friend without benefits” named Leah Brewer early on Feb. 13.

“Had somebody taken his phone, they wouldn’t be calling his friend,” Mogg testified.

Stanton pointed to another aspect of Andrews’ story that didn’t add up.

“Under his version of events someone took his phone during the murder and put it back in his car or in his personal property at his mom’s house in order for him to receive the phone call and text at 7 a.m.,” Stanton said.

Andrews told the detective he and Nowsch didn’t talk about anything during the ride from the Del Taco to a nearby Chevron Station, where the two parted ways.

Prosecutors have said the two deleted each others’ contact information from their phones.

“He told me that he had deleted all of the text messaging between him and Mr. Nowsch,” Mogg testified, “because he didn’t want to have anything to do with him ever again.”

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