Fatal shooting stemmed from a failed drug deal, police say

A shooting that left a 24-year-old man dead in the northeast valley Feb. 23 resulted from an argument between two friends over painkillers, Las Vegas police said.

Colton Brantano, 21, was arrested Friday in connection with the shooting death of 24-year-old Tyler Louis White outside Nellis Suites, 4555 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

According to Brantano’s arrest report, the shooting stemmed from a failed drug deal.

White arranged to buy Lortab for his friend Brantano early Feb. 23, police wrote in Brantano’s arrest report. About 1 a.m. that day, White and his girlfriend, Lauren Pinkston, drove with the couple’s roommate to a 7-Eleven on Craig and Las Vegas Boulevard, where they met Brantano and his girlfriend, Sherri Esquibel.

White got out of Pinkston’s car, walked to the passenger side of Brantano’s car and returned a few minutes later. He told Pinkston to drive to a Super 8 motel and Brantano followed them there.

In the parking lot, White again got out of the car and walked into the motel courtyard.

“Pinkston said she knew White was planning to steal Brantano’s money,” the man’s arrest report said.

Brantano left the lot when he realized he was being ripped off, she said.

Pinkston and her roommate also left. As they were driving on Craig, Brantano pulled up next to them and demanded they get his money back from White.

He followed Pinkston back to her apartment complex, Nellis Suites. Pinkston parked her car near the complex’s management office and Brantano parked behind her, blocking her car in the stall, the arrest report said.

Brantano demanded they call White and used a red baton to hit Pinkston’s car, breaking the taillight.

Pinkston told police she saw Esquibel, Brantano’s girlfriend, get in the driver’s seat of Brantano’s black Volkswagen Jetta. Pinkston’s roommate got out of the car with a small bat and confronted Brantano to get him to stop hitting Pinkston’s car, the arrest report said.

Brantano pulled out a gun as the roommate walked toward him, pointed it at him and said, “This ain’t no game,” the roommate told police.

The roommate dropped the bat and put his hands up. About the same time, White walked into the parking lot toward Brantano and the roommate.

That’s when Brantano began firing, hitting three cars and a stucco pillar before shooting White at least twice.

White was taken to University Medical Center where he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Brantano got into the Jetta and the car drove away, Pinkston told police.

Jared Busch, who was initially named a person of interest in the shooting but was later cleared by police, told detectives Brantano had contacted him early the morning of the shooting.

Brantano said he’d given White money to buy Lortab and that White was “ripping him off,” the arrest report said.

Busch said he called Pinkston while she was in the Nellis Suites parking lot and told her Brantano wouldn’t stop following them until they gave him the money back.

“Brantano, with the assistance of Sherri Esquibel, was able to elude law enforcement for several days,” detectives wrote in the report.

The pair turned themselves in Friday, but refused to answer police questions, the report said.

Brantano was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center where he faces one charge each of open murder with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. He is scheduled to appear in court 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Esquibel faces one charge of harboring, concealing or aiding a felony offender, Metro wrote in a release.

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