Chaparral community honors life of well-liked alum slain by gunfire

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Several Chaparral High students embraced each other in front of the school as blue balloons they released floated through the chilled Thursday-afternoon air, a gesture in honor of Richard Nelson, their football-star alumnus who was recently slain while trying to protect his sister during a fight.

Nelson’s football, basketball and track coaches, who he’d forged robust relationships with before graduating last year, spoke in front of about 100 students, staff and members of Nelson’s family.

They huddled near a podium that was back-dropped by his basketball and football No. 20 jerseys and large signs that featured his name and messages, such as “Fly High, Richard.”

The ceremony came the same day Metro Police identified Richard Allan Newsome Jr., 17, as the suspect in Saturday’s fatal shooting. An arrest report also released Thursday shows what transpired prior to shots being fired.

Newsome and his mother, Tianna Thomas, 37, who police allege helped her son flee after the shooting, turned themselves into authorities Tuesday afternoon. Both were booked at the Clark County Detention Center. Thomas, who also uses Douglas as a last name, has since posted bail.

Newsome will be charged as an adult, police said.

Star athlete and role model

The mood was solemn and there was a wind chill as the balloons, chosen to be blue because that was Nelson’s favorite color, were passed around. Messages were inscribed on some of them. At some point during the ceremony, the sun cut through the clouds while sprinkles began to fall.

K.C. Karns lost his composure as he told a story about coaching Nelson when he was on the school’s track team.

When Nelson was running in a meet as a sophomore, Karns persuaded him to run hurdles, something he’d never attempted. And he won — with the 10th best time in state history, Karns said.

“That’s just the kind of guy he was,” Karns said about Nelson stepping in when needed. “He would do anything,” Karns said before pausing to cry. “(To Nelson) it was about the team, not him.”

Steven Bentz, Nelson’s basketball coach, recalled a crucial timeout called during a game against Cheyenne High. “He had the courage to lead,” Bentz said, explaining that Nelson took over the moment and propped the team, which would end up winning.

Nelson was loyal to his team and teammates, considerate, had tremendous work ethic, good grades, and even if he had an off day in practice, he would bring his full potential to the games, Bentz said.

“He was so nice, so accepting of everybody,” Tre Roberts, 17, said after the ceremony. He and Nelson were teammates in football and basketball and had met in middle school.

The last time Roberts saw him was during a Chaparral basketball game Nelson attended last year, after he had graduated. He hung around the locker room and spoke to the team, he said.

When he heard Nelson had been shot, information that spread through social media, Roberts thought his friends were joking and got angry. When the realization that they in fact weren’t, he became “so, so sad.”

He described a somber quiet in school on Monday, when others had come to the same realization: “damn, my friend just died.”

"He's like the older brother I never had. He really showed me that there's better than just the streets, or whatever it may have been. No matter how much adversity (there was), he always showed me that you could make it," said Lorenzo Woods.

Woods explained his "strong bond" with Nelson inside, and outside the basketball court. He last saw his friend a couple of days before the shooting, when they hangout and caught up, Nelson discussing his new life as a football player at Missouri State, where he attended on a full-ride scholarship.

Woods broke down when he heard his friend had been killed, he said. The reality that he was gone set in in school on Monday when everyone was somberly discussing the shooting.

Nelson had made a promise to everyone that he would make it out of Las Vegas as a collegiate football player, Woods said, remembering the day Nelson's dream came true. "When he signed, he came out the room jumping and laughing," Woods said. "I was like, 'Wow, I am so proud of you."

“Man, I told everybody I was going to do it," Woods recalled Nelson saying. "That's what made it that much more special."

After the ceremony, Roxanne Bruce grabbed ahold of a silver heart-shaped necklace that she said holds her son's photo. I carry him with me everywhere I go," she said. "... He's close to my heart every day."

Bruce noted that her son's death has been difficult but that she's tried to keep her composure in public because that's what he would have wanted. However, she said she loses it when she gets home.

“He made me proud. I'm the proudest mother in this world," Bruce said. "I gotta be strong."

A conflict leads to shots fired

Officers and medical crews were dispatched about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to the 4800 block of Sacks Drive, near Nellis Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, police said.

According to Newsome's arrest report, Nelson was inside his mother's house and went outside to help his sister, Oniesha Coleman, when he heard a commotion.

The conflict started over the phone when Coleman called Newsome's sister, Imunique Newsome, a "stupid b----," police said. This was a result of Imunique Newsome accusing Coleman of cheating on her girlfriend.

Imunique Newsome and Coleman's girlfriend were not invited to a gathering at Nelson's house, police said. But they decided to show up and eventually Imunique Coleman asked her two brothers, including Richard Newsome, and their mother, Tianna Thomas, to meet in the area of the shooting.

At some point, Coleman and her girlfriend got in a physical fight and that's when Thomas and her children began attacking Coleman, police said. Nelson responded and was shot multiple times in the torso when he tried to push the Newsome brothers away from his sister.

Newsome's family fled in a car and Richard Newsome and his mother sought out a lawyer and turned themselves in on Tuesday.

Newsome’s next court appearance is Friday morning, while Thomas is next scheduled to appear before a judge on April 3, court logs show.