Woman shot in Las Vegas home invasions still critical

A woman shot in the stomach during Tuesday’s violent home invasions is still clinging to life in a hospital, Las Vegas police said Friday.

Police were not clear on what motivated the attackers, who forced their way into multiple southeast valley homes.

But one thing police know, Metro Undersheriff Jim Dixon said, is that Cody David Winters, 27, and Natasha Galenn Jackson, 35, set out to commit some sort of crime Tuesday.

The attack left Richard Ramos, 59, dead and two wounded before police fatally shot Winters and arrested Jackson.

Police said the pair took a freeway service technician hostage and forced him to drive them to a corner on Autumn Street, in a residential neighborhood southeast of the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Sandhill Road.

Winters was armed with a Glock 19, Dixon said Friday, and Jackson had a bolt-cutter, a screwdriver and a knife.

The pair let the technician drive away unharmed, but the pair went into a house on Autumn Street where they beat, stabbed and shot Ramos, who later died. The pair also stabbed his wife, Julie, who survived.

“I want to send our condolences to the Ramos family, and certainly, our thoughts and prayers to the young lady who was shot,” Dixon said, explaining the sequence of events to news media Friday.

Police said Winters and Jackson broke out the sliding-glass door to Ramos’ backyard and hopped walls into a vacant house on Almondwood Street. From there, Winters pointed his gun at officers.

Officer William Moore, 34, shot at Winters twice but missed.

In the vacant home, police said, Winters used a closet door to fortify a position at an upstairs window before he went through a downstairs window and jumped a wall into the next yard over.

Earlier this week police said the pair tried a ruse to escape, with Winters holding Jackson as if she were a victim before he released her and jumped the wall. By Friday, they clarified.

“Cody, shoot them all. Kill them,” Jackson screamed, police said, as Winters cleared the wall. Officers took Jackson into custody before she could join him.

Next door, Winters threatened a man and his girlfriend, police said, and demanded the keys to a vehicle. The man gave over the keys, but Winters shot the woman in the stomach, grabbed her and used her as a hostage. At the home’s entrance, the woman collapsed. Police said that was the opportunity they needed, and officer Ryan Rotta, 24, shot him three times.

Winters stumbled back and started forward again.

Rotta shot Winters three more times, and he slumped over a decorative rock at the home’s entrance and died, police said.

Winters had prior arrests in Idaho, including charges for drugs, aggravated battery, violating parole and weapons.

Jackson was booked at the Clark County Detention Center to face multiple charges, including first degree murder, attempted murder, home invasion, burglary, robbery and kidnapping. Jackson has prior arrests in Nevada for battery and malicious destruction of property. She also has prior arrests in New Hampshire for assault, forging prescriptions and driving while intoxicated.

It was the second officer-involved shooting in the valley Tuesday and the 12th in Metro’s jurisdiction in 2014. Henderson police Tuesday shot and killed a man they said became belligerent during a traffic stop. The man stabbed an officer in the leg before police opened fire.

Officer Moore has been with Las Vegas police since 2006, and Rotta since 2008. Both officers are on routine paid leave while the department investigates.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl.