Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Arrest report: Suspect in slaying of 2 people, police dog also shot at his mom

More OIS in Northwest

Steve Marcus

Metro Police officers and a crime scene analyst are shown near an officer-involved shooting in the northwest valley Thursday, March 31, 2016. Two people are reported dead and a suspect was shot and is in custody, police said. A Metro Police dog was also reported killed.

Updated Friday, April 1, 2016 | 6:20 p.m.

2 People, Police Dog Killed

Metro Police officers salute as a procession with the body of a slain police dog leaves the scene near an officer-involved shooting Thursday, March 31, 2016, in the northwest valley. Two people are reported dead and a suspect was shot and is in custody, police said. Launch slideshow »

Hours before killing two of his mother’s neighbors and engaging Metro Police officers in a shootout, which left him wounded and police dog dead, James Craig Simpson showed up to his mother’s house, wielding a large gun and yelling about someone outside following him, according to his arrest report.

The neighbors who were shot were identified in the report as Felecia Wimberly-Hughes and Brandon Hughes — a mother and son.

They had showed up to the garage at Simpson’s mother’s house as she and her 31-year-old son argued and fought over possession of the gun, the report said.

Simpson also fired rounds at his mother, but missed.

Also according to the report:

The incidents began about 10 hours before shots rang out on the streets of the far northwest valley gated neighborhood.

Simpson called his mother about 2 a.m. asking for her to pick him up from an undisclosed location. But instead, the woman ordered a cab for him.

About 4:30 a.m., the cab pulled up to the house in the 9800 block of Fast Elk Street, near El Capitan Way and Iron Mountain Road.

About 6 a.m., the woman awoke to knocking on her bedroom door. It was her son, holding a gun she told police she’d never seen before.

When she asked her son to put the gun away or leave her house, Simpson became agitated. In his agitated state, he started to yell about someone outside following him.

In the process, Simpson stepped outside to fetch a cellphone he had thrown in the trash.

The woman calmed Simpson and got him to take a shower. She talked him into putting the gun in a backpack and handing it to her.

He complied.

Double homicide

About noon, he took the bag back and became agitated again. The woman told Simpson she had called 911.

Simpson and his mother walked to her home’s garage. There, Simpson walked around a car, pointed a gun and screamed as “if he was looking for someone.”

In the midst of the woman trying to calm Simpson, the neighbors started to walk toward the open garage. It wasn’t immediately clear why they showed up.

Simpson went back in the house when he saw the neighbors coming and threw the gun in a bathroom next to the garage.

And that’s when his mother tried to get the gun. But a physical struggle ensued when he saw her.

Simpson again headed to the garage and the first shots rang out when he shot the man, who was standing in the garage.

It wasn’t clear how much time transpired, but Simpson’s mother handed Wimberly-Hughes a towel as she tended to her son.

Simpson headed toward Wimberly-Hughes and grabbed her by the hair and hit her head with the gun.

The gunman threatened his mother, who was standing at the door separating the garage from the home, before firing about three shots at her, missing.

He then grabbed Wimberly-Hughes by the hair and dragged her before shooting her multiple times.

Both Hughes and Wimberly-Hughes died at the scene.

Shootout with police

Officers arrived at the neighborhood to find an armed Simpson in the middle of the street.

Police told the gunman to put the gun down and he complied, placing the weapon on the ground.

That’s when police released the K-9 to try to take him into custody. But Simpson “quickly” picked up the gun and started to run.

He pointed the gun at officers and fired rounds as he ran. The shootout between Simpson and officers had begun.

The handler of the Metro dog told investigators that the K-9 made contact with Simpson and the officers fired at him.

When the shots stopped, Simpson was wounded and the K-9 was dead — lying on top of Simpson’s right arm and the gun.

Simpson was taken to University Medical in unknown condition.

He was booked at the Clark County Detention Center in absentia and is facing two counts of murder, single counts of attempted murder and kidnapping and three counts of discharging a gun, jail logs show.

Nicky the police dog

The K-9, a Belgian Malinois named Nicky, in February was stabbed multiples times in the snout with a machete by a man who had holed himself at an apartment near Maryland Parkway and Desert Inn Road.

Nicky had in the past weeks returned to duty after undergoing surgery.

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