‘It was an accident,’ Las Vegas teen accused of murder told parents not to call police after shooting
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A 17-year-old accused of murder told police it was an accident after he shot his friend in a vehicle and told his parents not to call 911 earlier in the month, according to documents obtained by 8 News Now.
On Monday, May 6 at around 4 a.m., a man called 911 and told dispatchers that his son came home and told his parents that he shot his friend, but would not tell him details about the shooting, the report stated.
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrived and detained the son, identified as Cesar Sandoval, 17. When police asked Sandoval where the shooting occurred, he told them it happened in the area of St. Louis Avenue and 14th Street in a gray Honda.
Sandoval told police that he shot his friend, Jazlynn Johnson, 18, and claimed it was an accident.
Shortly before 5 a.m., officers found a gray Honda parked on the south side of St. Louis Avenue. When officers approached the vehicle, they found a deceased woman with a gunshot wound to her head in the driver seat and slumped against the door, the report stated.
Evidence at the scene indicated the shooting happening inside the vehicle and the shooter was likely seated in the passenger seat.
Medical personnel responded and pronounced her dead at the scene. The Clark County Coroner’s Office later confirmed the victim to be identified as Johnson.
When asked what happened, Sandoval told police there was “a [expletive’d] up accident and I hurt my friend.” When police asked follow up questions, Sandoval asked for a lawyer present, but was adamant that the shooting was an accident.
He told police he did not know where the gun was.
Sandoval’s parents told police that he left home the night before and was picked up by a gray Honda that they had seen pick him up before. Sandoval came home at around 3 a.m. “hysterical and in a panic,” the report stated.
His parents told police that he hugged his mom, crying and saying “it was an accident.” She asked if he was in an accident, and Sandoval said “No, I [expletive’d] up, I did something wrong, I shot my friend,” according to the report.
Sandoval told his parents not to call the police, but they told him they had to.
Sandoval faces charges of open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and destroying or concealing evidence. He is currently in custody at the Clark County Juvenile Hall.
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