Teen gets life in prison in slaying

A sentencing hearing for a 19-year-old convicted murderer turned emotional when relatives of the victim and defendant spoke out Wednesday in District Court.

"You can't forgive for killing," said Latrice Pugh, whose 19-year-old brother, Jeremy Latrell Brown, was fatally shot Jan. 17 outside the Bell Market on Owens Avenue near Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The man convicted of killing her brother, 19-year-old Tyon Hopkins, stood in court as Pugh and the victim's mother, Regina Burton, wept.

"All I want now is justice," Burton told District Judge Stewart Bell.

Bell sentenced Hopkins to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Hopkins apologized to Brown's family and his own for the shooting.

"I didn't want this situation to end up like it did," he said. "Jeremy was like my older brother."

Authorities said Hopkins, a member of the Playboy Blood gang who was also known as "Lil' Mark," shot and killed Brown because of a dispute over a woman.

Moments before the shooting, according to a Las Vegas police report, Hopkins told a Bell Market employee that he was going to kill Brown.

Members of Hopkins' family burst out in tears after Bell announced the sentence.

"I love you," yelled one family member in the courtroom.

Emotions continued to run high outside court as Hopkins' relatives gathered in a hallway. "My grandson was railroaded," said Charles Gamble, Hopkins' grandfather. He criticized the jury that convicted Hopkins Nov. 7. "They were asleep."

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.