Inset: Joshua Martinez appears in court (KLAS). Background: A Walgreens where a man was shot in the back of the head in Las Vegas, Nev. (Google Maps).
A Nevada teenager has admitted to acting on a strong desire to kill a man he shot in the back of the head, Silver State police say.
Joshua Martinez, 19, stands accused of one count of open murder with a deadly weapon, according to a press release issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The defendant would allegedly tell police he “knew he had to kill” the man in question — after a recent period of homicidal ideation.
The incident occurred during the early morning hours of Feb. 17, in front of a Walgreens on North Durango Drive in the Coral Bay neighborhood of Las Vegas.
Just before 2:45 a.m., a 911 call came in to the Fire and Rescue Department about a man who needed help, according to court documents obtained by Las Vegas-based CBS affiliate KLAS.
When the caller said the man in need “could be suicidal and had taken 30 pills,” the call was transferred to the LVMPD, police said.
Arriving officers found the victim wrapped in a white sheet, near a set of steps in front of the pharmacy chain, and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to head, according to law enforcement. Various efforts to perform CPR were ultimately in vain; the bleeding man was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime.
Police say a witness who lived in the immediate area came forward and accused Martinez of the shooting. The witness said he woke up at around 3 a.m. that day after hearing noises outside his residence.
The defendant was quickly arrested a short time later at his home. Inside, police allegedly found two handguns.
During a custodial interview, Martinez allegedly offered a voluble confession about having had “murderous thoughts lately” that grew “more intense” when he drank alcohol, according to the police report.
After midnight, the defendant allegedly said, he was drinking alcohol when he got the idea to steal money from his parents. After admittedly stealing his parents’ debit card, however, he failed to get the desired cash because he could not provide right personal identification number, according to police.
While at the automated teller machine, Martinez said he became paranoid about a group of men wearing white who he believed might have followed him, police say. So, the defendant allegedly said, he went home to get two guns and walked back toward the bank to look for the men, according to the report.
Along the way, Martinez came upon one man wearing a white hoodie, the defendant allegedly said. Then, he asked the man if he saw anyone else around. The man replied that he had not but asked to borrow the defendant’s cellphone so he could get to a hospital.
Martinez said he offered to take the man in white to a hospital across the street — but the man declined because he wanted to go to a different hospital, police say. Then, the two men began to walk together before sitting down on the steps where the victim would later be found.
As they conversed, the conversation turned morbid.
The defendant allegedly admitted to the stranger that he “wanted to murder someone,” according to the police report. In response, the victim allegedly said “felt that way sometimes too.”
As the conversation continued, the victim allegedly told Martinez he once set someone on fire. That’s when “something clicked,” Martinez allegedly told police. At that, he “knew he had to kill him.”
The defendant said he offered the man in white a drink and said he would go inside to buy the booze. Then, he allegedly stood up, walked behind him, shot him in the head, and ran back home.
Martinez is currently being detained at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. He is slated to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on April 4, jail records show.
