Metro: Shooter thought victim was ‘messing him around’

By Ana Ley

Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 | 5:15 p.m.

A man who gunned down his girlfriend’s uncle in northeast Las Vegas earlier this week seemed to be on drugs the night of the shooting, the victim’s relatives told police.

The shooter, Raul “Sparks” Gonzalez, said he fired five rounds into the front door of Eric Montoya’s house about 4 a.m. on Tuesday because he thought the victim was “messing him around,” according to an arrest report released today. The men were supposed to meet that night to rob a taco vendor but Montoya took too long to come outside, Gonzalez told Metro Police investigators.

Two of the bullets hit Montoya, 35, who died about six hours later at University Medical Center.

Montoya’s son and girlfriend, who were home during the shooting, said the men had been talking on the phone and planned to meet at a taco stand near the victim’s home.

Another relative who lives one mile from Montoya’s house told police that Gonzalez, 33, had been wandering through the area with a camera hanging from his neck about an hour before the shooting. The relative reportedly said Gonzalez looked like he was on drugs and “was probably looking to commit crimes in the area,” so she told him to leave.

Montoya then came searching for him but walked back home when he realized Gonzalez was gone. Moments later, Gonzalez knocked on Montoya’s garage door and sprayed his front door with bullets, according to the police report.

After the shooting, Gonzalez said he heard screams but assumed Montoya was only pretending to be hurt.

Metro Police arrested Gonzalez early Wednesday in a hotel parking lot in the 3600 block of Boulder Highway. He was driving his mother’s black Honda Civic, which he was reportedly driving during the shooting.

Gonzalez, a suspected member of a local street gang, was taken to the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder and discharging a gun at or into an occupied building.

The suspect told police he’d been dating Montoya’s niece, Jennifer Gascon, for about a year. The couple fought frequently, and Gonzalez believed Gascon planned to pay her uncle to “beat (him) up,” according to the police report.