Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Phone call interrupts drug buy, ends in fatal shooting

Johnathan Perez

Johnathan Perez

It was the last call for Jason Puckett.

Puckett and a longtime friend, who had arranged a marijuana buy, stood Monday evening outside a Chevy Trailblazer parked near a public housing project on Harris Avenue, just south of Cashman Field. Inside the Trailblazer were the driver and the would-be seller, Johnathan Perez, according to a Metro Police report.

Puckett had made a cellphone call and was becoming frustrated trying to direct another person to their location. Puckett’s frustration turned to agitation, according to the report.

Then from inside the Trailblazer came the gunshots.

According to the police report:

The longtime friend heard the gunshots and saw Perez aiming a revolver at Puckett. Perez got out of the Trailblazer and followed Puckett to the back of the vehicle. The witness wasn’t sure if Perez shot Puckett again, but Puckett collapsed. Perez got back into the Trailblazer and it drove away.

Puckett was transported to University Medical Center, where he died.

Police were able to find the vehicle’s owner, who told them her daughter’s boyfriend, Perez, was using the Trailblazer.

Police sought a warrant for Perez’s arrest, and on Tuesday he was arrested without incident and booked into the Clark County Detention Center. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.

Perez, who has a criminal record after pleading guilty in May 2011 for attempted murder and carrying a concealed weapon, appeared today in Las Vegas Township Justice Court for his first hearing on the murder charge.

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