|
 The arrest of Eric Nowsch after a brief stand-off marked the first
break in the case since 44-year-old Tammy Meyers was shot outside
her home on Feb. 12, just minutes after an angry confrontation with
another driver.
Meyers died on Saturday after being taken off life-support at a Las
Vegas hospital.
"A suspect involved in the killing of Ms. Meyers is in custody and
off the streets of Las Vegas," said Captain Chris Tomaino of the Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at an afternoon press
conference.
Police declined to say if they believed Nowsch was the person who
shot Meyers. Witnesses say more than one person was in the suspect
car at the time of the altercation.
A friend of Nowsch who asked that she be identified only as Shelby
said that he had been questioned by detectives two days earlier.
 Shelby said she didn't believe Nowsch could have been involved in
the sensational crime, calling him a "friendly neighborhood kid" who
did not resemble a police sketch released earlier this week of a
suspect in the case.
"He was good kid, didn't get into trouble. All he did was smoke pot,
but so do all the kids around here," she said. "He was scrawny, like
microscopically thin."
According to Las Vegas police Lieutenant Ray Steiber, who spoke at a
news conference earlier this week, the incident began around 11:20
p.m. on Feb. 12 when a silver sedan sped alongside Meyers as she
drove home after giving her 15-year-old daughter a driving lesson.
[to top of second column] |
After Meyers' daughter reached over from the passenger side and
honked at the speeding car, a suspect described by police as a white
man in his 20s or early 30s got out and yelled at them, Steiber
said.
Meyers drove home, where her daughter got out of the car and her son
got in, carrying a loaded handgun, Steiber said.
Mother and son drove through the neighborhood in search of the other
car and driver but, after failing to find them, returned home, only
to have the suspect vehicle arrive and open fire, according to
Steiber.
Meyers' son shot back, Steiber said, then discovered that his mother
had been hit.
(Reporting by Alexia Shurmur in Las Vegas and Alex Dobuzinskis and
Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by
Cynthia Johnston, Peter Cooney and Eric Walsh)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
