Rodrigo Chavez
Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 | 9:05 p.m.
Blake Whittington
The deadly confrontation erupted over $180 worth of stolen pot.
And after the young gunman pumped bullets into the alleged thief’s getaway car in North Las Vegas, he left the slain man a voice message on Facebook: “I got your license plate. I got your car (expletive). I got everything bro.”
It wasn’t clear if Rodrigo Chavez, 18, knew at the time of the call Sunday night that he’d struck Dre-Vaughn Deonte Dixion, 22, much less that the .40-caliber bullet proved fatal. Yet, he went on in the message, raving about how Dixion should feel lucky he hadn’t also shot the getaway driver, according to a North Las Vegas Police arrest report.
“You got karma comin' your way. Trust,” Chavez allegedly said.
Gunshots rang out from a Ford Mustang as it followed a gold-colored compact SUV until it pulled into North Vista Hospital at 11:12 p.m. Sunday, police said. Its driver got out and asked a North Las Vegas Police officer in the parking lot for help.
Dixion, who was shot in the back, died minutes later.
The driver told detectives that Dixion had asked for a ride from an apartment complex on Donna Street, near Fifth Street and Carey Avenue.
Dixion was seen walking away from a Mustang at the complex before he got in his ride’s vehicle and told the man to “just drive.”
Soon, the driver said, the Mustang was chasing them and bullets began to fly. Soon, Dixion could not breathe, and the driver realized that he’d been hit.
Detectives gained access to Dixion’s phone and recovered his conversations with Chavez, who he’d planned to meet that night to buy an ounce of marijuana for $180. Facebook logged the deal and the two communicating until they allegedly met. The voicemail was left after the shooting.
Police found the same logs on Chavez’s phone. Detectives later arrested his friend, Blake Whittington, who is alleged to have driven the Mustang and provided Chavez with the gun.
Both were booked at the Las Vegas city jail on counts of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, discharging a firearm at an occupied vehicle and discharging a weapon within a vehicle.
