Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013 | 11:29 a.m.
Shooting
A 21-year-old woman has been arrested on a count of attempted murder in a road rage-fueled shooting on the Las Vegas Strip last week, Metro Police said.
The victim’s vehicle apparently prevented another car from changing lanes, prompting the shooting at 11:21 p.m. Dec. 23 in the 3700 block of S. Las Vegas Blvd., which is near Harmon Avenue, police said.
Witnesses told police they observed a female exit her car, approach the victim’s vehicle and shoot the driver in the neck through an open window, according to an arrest report released today.
The man was transported to University Medical Center, where he was treated for a gunshot to his neck that exited through this chest.
The woman jumped into the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Impala, and a man driving the car fled through the Polo Towers parking lot, the report states.
Based on a witness description of the suspect vehicle and license plate number, detectives determined the car belonged to Brittanie Merritt-Burwell.
Merritt-Burwell had been issued a warning citation by Metro officers on Dec. 18 after security guards at the Hooters casino reported an attempted auto burglary, according to the report.
On Monday morning, a patrol officer spotted the suspect vehicle parked at a Burger King in the 3600 block of West Tropicana Avenue. A female matching Merritt-Burwell’s description was exiting the car, along with a man, according to the report.
The patrol officer took the pair into custody without incident.
The woman identified herself as Merritt-Burwell, an Arizona resident who was interested in moving to Las Vegas.
When detectives questioned her about the shooting, Merritt-Burwell admitted she got “mad” at the other driver who prevented her from changing lanes on Las Vegas Boulevard, police said.
Merritt-Burwell said she approached the victim’s vehicle and fired a shot after he “tried pulling her body into his car by grabbing her left arm,” according to the arrest report.
Merritt-Burwell said Joshua Youngblood — the man taken into custody with her at Burger King — drove her car away from the scene after the shooting, the report said. She indicated that she was “scared” and had never shot anyone before, the report states.
Youngblood, who requested an attorney and refused to speak with detectives, was arrested on counts of harboring a felony offender, unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon and resisting a public officer.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office has not formally charged either suspect.
Merritt-Burwell and Youngblood remain in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, according to jail records.
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