Murder charges dropped against man in gang-related incident

Murder charges against a 20-year-old man were dropped on Thursday after prosecutors determined that he fired a handgun at someone in self-defense.

Allen Duplan was arrested this week, five months after Las Vegas police said he fired into a vehicle outside his house at 2843 Beacon Falls Way, near Vegas Valley Drive and Nellis Boulevard.

Three "admitted gang members," including Jannet Sanchez, were in the car and looking for rival gang members to fight that night, according to Duplan's arrest report.

One of the people in the car, Angel Olivera, later told police he drove onto Beacon Falls Way with a pellet rifle hanging out the window. As he drove by Duplan and a friend, he pointed the gun at them and challenged them to a fight, the report said.

Duplan went inside the house and got a handgun, the report said.

Duplan told police he was scared and thought the suspects were going to do a drive-by shooting and that he fired the handgun at the vehicle to try to scare them away. Sanchez was in the back seat and was shot in the head. She died two days later.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Owens said that after getting additional information about the victim from police, he felt it was "not appropriate" to charge Duplan with murder.

"We felt it to be a case of self-defense," Owens said.

"The reputed victim was in a car and was part of a conspiracy to go into this neighborhood and to commit assault with a deadly weapon," he said.

Duplan still could be charged in the case at a future date if police discover new information about the incident, he said.

"We think we've pretty much exhausted everything we can know about the case," Owens said.