Woman faces murder charge in February shooting death

A woman arrested Thursday and a man already jailed on a probation violation face murder charges in the February shooting death of a 44-year-old man near UNLV, according to the Clark County district attorney’s office.

Las Vegas police found 44-year-old Jose Luis Espinoza Lizarraga lying outside an apartment with a gunshot wound to the head about 11:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the 5000 block of Tamarus Street, near Tropicana Avenue, east of Maryland Parkway.

Lizarraga died there, police said.

Multiple residents in the apartment complex told police they heard the gunshot and then heard a woman shout “B****!” before they saw a man and woman running through the complex, according to Galier’s arrest warrant. They went up a flight of stairs and into a unit.

Officers later searched the apartment and found Melissa Cerna, 24, and Max Marquez Galier, 21, police said. The pair had gone in a friend’s apartment in a rush and asked to use her shower. They turned the lights off, went into the bathroom together and came out cleaned up and wearing different clothes.

Police arrested Galier hours after the shooting on an active violation of parole warrant and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

The friend whose apartment they used told police Cerna had dropped off her then-5-month-old son earlier in the evening and left to find Galier, who she had just broken up with, according to the arrest warrant.

The next day, the friend who lives where police found Cerna and Galier called police to report a semiautomatic handgun had been found in their bathroom, Galier’s arrest warrant said. The gun matched the weapon used in Lizarraga’s death, police said.

On Feb. 13, Galier’s cellmate at the Clark County Detention Center notified an officer that Galier had told him the intimate details of a murder he had committed, the arrest warrant said.

Galier told the inmate he had become angry with a man named Jose or Luis, whom he believed raped his girlfriend, Cerna, police said. Galier also told his cellmate that he and Cerna had approached the man, Galier shot him in the face and Cerna said “B****!” and spit.

A warrant for Galier’s arrest on murder charges related to the shooting was issued Thursday, police said. He was re-booked into the detention center without bail on charges of conspiracy to murder and open murder with a deadly weapon.

Melissa Cerna, 24, was arrested Thursday evening and faces charges of conspiracy to murder and open murder with a deadly weapon.

Cerna is also being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber.