Las Vegas man arrested after hit-and-run leads to shooting, pursuit by other driver: police
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A hit-and-run crash that involved two men led to a shooting in the east Las Vegas valley after a driver decided to pursue the other, police documents said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan police arrested Ulises Perez-Salazar, on Feb. 17. He faces several charges including assault with a deadly weapon, firing at an occupied vehicle, and duty to stop at the scene of an accident, according to a police report.
On Feb. 16, a driver called the police and reported that he had been driving eastbound on Charleston from U.S. 95 when he was hit by another vehicle described as a gray Chevrolet Camaro. The driver told police he followed the Camaro after it left the scene of the crash. Salazar was later identified as the driver of the Camaro by police.
After several minutes Salazar fired two to three rounds at the other driver from the vehicle in the area of Lake Mead Boulevard and Linn Street, police said.
The unidentified driver then told police he continued driving south when Salazar allegedly fired another round of approximately three shots at him. Salazar then made an eastbound turn onto Cedar. That is when police dispatch told the driver to discontinue following Salazar, police said.
The driver then told police he heard impacts in front of him, during the shooting and described seeing a tactical laser coming from Salazar’s car which was green in color, police said.
Officers later located Salazar in North Las Vegas where he was taken into custody.
During police interviews, the unidentified driver told officers that the crash took place after the two vehicles were stopped at the same intersection. When the light turned green traffic traffic had to proceed through a winding cone pattern due to road construction. While navigating through the Camaro “side-swiped” the driver’s vehicle causing damage to the left front, according to the police report.
The unidentified driver then told police that the Camaro slowed momentarily as if to pull over, then rapidly accelerated. The unidentified driver then chased the Camaro while simultaneously attempting to record the incident on his cell phone. The driver also said as he continued his “pursuit” of the Camaro with speeds he estimated “to reach 70 miles per hour,” police said.
The unidentified driver described the moments he heard the gunshots come from Salazar’s vehicle. He told police he heard three gunshots come from the driver’s side with what he described as “bullets impacting the ground” in front of him approximately 30 yards. The unidentified driver then told police he continued to follow Salazar “after believing he was shot at, at which time he heard approximately three more gunshots,” followed by what he described as a “green laser, shining through his windshield,” according to the police report.
Officers also interviewed another person who initially told police he had spent the evening with Salazar and later found that his vehicle had been stolen from his home, police said. According to the unidentified man, the two went out to eat and when they returned home they discovered that Salazar’s Camaro had been stolen. The unidentified man then told police he wanted to “tell the truth” and apologized to Salazar for not maintaining the story he gave, according to the police report.
The man then told police Salazar called him before midnight to ask him for a ride after he had told him he had been in a crash. The man then told police that Salazar had admitted to firing “warning shots” after the driver of the other vehicle followed him. Salazar then asked the man to corroborate a story about his vehicle being stolen and to say they were together during the evening, according to the police report.
When police located Salazar’s car they found that the window was broken out and there was glass in the area. It corroborated that the window was broken where the vehicle was parked and where Salazar’s friend picked him up and not where it was allegedly stolen from, police said.
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