Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Police: Woman accused of stabbing says she ‘snapped’ after husband spit on her

Shirron Jozette Gayles-Zanders

Shirron Jozette Gayles-Zanders

A woman accused of repeatedly stabbing her estranged husband on Saturday, fatally wounding him, told detectives she “snapped” after he spit in her face, according to a Henderson Police arrest report.

The couple had fought as they waited for officers to serve as a “civil standby” while the man tried to remove his belongings from their home, police said.

During the attack, Kerry Zanders, 56, was able to fight back and began retreating into another room, but the woman continued stabbing him because she’d already “committed” to the slaying, she told detectives, according to the report.

Shirron Jozette Gayles-Zanders, 50, was arrested and booked at the Henderson Detention Center on a count of murder.

“I think I just killed my husband,” Gayles-Zanders told a 911 operator at 11:23 a.m., according to the police report.

It was the fourth call to police from the house that day.

The first came about 10:30 a.m. regarding a police escort the man’s daughter had requested for him to retrieve his things, police said. The daughter had accompanied him, and they’d arrived in his car and a moving truck, police said.

Police advised them to wait for officers to arrive, but the man seemingly became impatient after a second call, according to the report. The next call was from Gayles-Zanders at 11:15 a.m. saying the man hadn’t waited, police said.

Eight minutes later, at 11:23 a.m., Kerry Zanders was dead in the two-story house at 1136 Strada Pecei, near Russell Road and the Las Vegas wash, police said.

Gayles-Zanders told detectives her husband came into the house and was dropping cigarette ashes, police said. “He stated that he could do anything, whatever he wanted, because this was his house,” she said told police, according to the report.

He slammed drawers and damaged furniture, the woman told police. At some point, he tried putting out the cigarette on her face, she said.

When he went outside, she grabbed a knife and hid it in her waistband, police said. As they were talking, he said something to the effect of, “This is what I think of you,” before spitting in her face, which launched the onslaught, police said.

Gayles-Zanders said she “felt bad, however, she reiterated that spitting on a person is absolute disrespect and that she just reacted,” according to the police report.