Suspects in Las Vegas double homicide discussed murders in group chat, police say
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Police found screenshots of news articles about a double-murder on the phones of several suspects arrested earlier this month, according to documents 8 News Now obtained.
One suspect even messaged a group chat the day after the murder to ask how much prison time people could face if they were caught, police said.
Emerson Hewitt, 18; Damion Mixon,18; Larry Young; 18, Mark Burton, 20; and Nasir Leggroan, 20, all face charges including open murder for the July 2022 deaths of Samiir Smith, 19, and Deanna Maria Diaz, 24.
The murders
The shooting happened on July 29, 2022, at around 10:15 p.m. in an apartment complex in the 1900 block of Cindysue Street, near Vegas and Rancho drives.
When police arrived, they found both Smith and Diaz suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Medical personnel pronounced both victims dead at the scene.
Diaz’s roommate, who was in the apartment with her 2-year-old son at the time of the shooting, told police that Smith was their neighbor. She said the shooting happened when the suspects knocked on the door and Smith opened the door to greet them, the report stated.
She told police the suspects attempted to pull Smith out of the apartment and shots were fired during a struggle.
The plan
The day before the shooting, Young reached out to Leggroan on Instagram to plan a robbery of Smith, documents said. During the conversation, the two planned the robbery in detail, the report stated.
Using a middleman, Leggroan messaged Smith on Instagram to ask about buying firearms, who then sent Leggroan a photo of several guns, which Leggroan then shared with Young, according to the report.
In their private messages, Leggroan and Young planned to bring people with them on the robbery, saying they wanted to bring more people than would be in the apartment. The two asked Hewitt, Burton, Mixon, and an unnamed sixth person in the plan.
In a later interview with police, Burton said Hewitt told him he had called a marijuana dealer and arranged a deal shortly after 4:30 p.m. on the day of the shooting. Burton identified the dealer as Smith.
The group decided to not commit the robbery at 4:30 p.m. because it was “broad daylight” and there were other people around, the report stated. They made the drug deal before deciding to go elsewhere and come back later.
A video detectives located on Hewitt’s phone showed the group, along with an unknown sixth person, in the minivan shortly after 4:30 p.m. In the video, Mixon and Young “flaunted” handguns to the camera, according to the report.
After the murders, the group drove to Mixon’s home, where they all called their own rides home, the report stated.
The aftermath
A witness told police that at around 4:30 p.m. she saw a white minivan in the alley near the apartment complex and saw several men armed with handguns around the minivan. Later in the night, she saw the same minivan driving toward the apartments with its headlights off, according to the report.
A few minutes later, she heard several gunshots, she told police.
Using a photo of the minivan shared by the witness, police ran a records check and discovered it belonged to Hewitt. At 1 a.m. on July 30, the day after the shooting, officers took Hewitt into custody.
Hewitt
Hewitt told several different versions of what happened the night before, changing his story numerous times, switching names of people he was with and lying about who owned a phone number that texted him asking to be picked up shortly after the shooting, the report stated.
Police later confirmed that number to belong to Burton, who later called police directly after being told they already knew his name and number. Hewitt claimed to not know anyone by that name and insisted the number belonged to his cousin, according to the report.
Burton
Burton originally told police he was not with the Hewitt and the other suspects at the time of the shooting. However, a witness told police she saw two men hiding under a parked vehicle while officers arrived at the scene after the shooting.
Surveillance video from the area showed one of the men matched the description of Burton.
On Burton’s phone, police found several screenshots of news articles about the murders, which he sent to several people.
Young
After the shooting, Young was in a group chat discussing the murders, asking how much prison time people could face if they were caught. Several people in the group chat sent screenshots of news articles about the murders, the report stated.
Young later messaged a group chat asking what they should do about Hewitt being questioned by the police, saying Hewitt “snitched” because “everybody was saying it.” Larry appeared to ask the group if they should disassociate themselves from Hewitt or kill him, according to the report.
It was unclear who was in either group chat with Young.
Mixon
On Mixon’s phone, police found several rap songs written before the shooting, which appeared to idolize buying drugs from a person before robbing and shooting them. Police noted the lyrics, written in May 2022, were almost the exact scenario for the July 2022 murders.
Additionally, on August 23, 3022, Mixon messaged someone asking them to come get his gun, stating that “if the police raid this house n find that gun im doin life [sic],” according to the report.
According to LVMPD officials, Hewitt was arrested on April 8, while Mixon, Young, Burton, and Leggroan were arrested on April 17.
All five are being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. They each face the following charges:
Two counts of open murder with use of a deadly weapon
Two counts of attempted robbery with use of a deadly weapon
Conspiracy to commit robbery
Attempted burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon
Mixon and Leggroan each face an additional charge of violation of probation.
Their next court appearance was scheduled for May 30.
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