Two people in California are accused of shooting and killing a Nevada man in a Las Vegas apartment as revenge for a wrong-way crash that killed the victim’s girlfriend, documents released Thursday said.
Police in California arrested 34-year-old Sheldon Johnson and 36-year-old Kenisha Rice in June for the February death of 35-year-old Martin Loftis.
On February 5, Martin’s girlfriend, 39-year-old Quinyana Edwards, died when she drove impaired the wrong way on the 215 Beltway and crashed into another car, killing herself and another driver.
The crash happened around 2:30 a.m. Edwards, also identified in police documents as Quinyana Long, was traveling south in the northbound lanes south of South Town Center Drive, state police said.
Edwards had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.29, documents said. The legal limit in Nevada is 0.08. She also had cocaine and THC in her blood. Police noted “Quinyana had been drinking alcohol at a club the night of her death,” documents said.
Johnson is Edwards’ younger brother and Johnson and Rice were in a relationship, police said.
On Feb. 6, a maintenance worker discovered Loftis’s body in an apartment complex near Sahara Avenue and Durango Drive in the west valley. Arriving officers found Loftis dead inside an apartment from several gunshot wounds, they said.
Witnesses reported seeing a man and woman leave the complex in a white car with California license plates shortly after the shooting, police said.
Officers obtained a search warrant for the apartment, finding it “messy and unkempt” as if Edwards or Loftis was planning to move out, they said. During their search, officers obtained several cartridge casings, believing the shooter followed Loftis down a hallway and kept shooting at him as he tried to hide in a bedroom.
Police later learned Rice drove a car similar to the one witnesses saw leaving the shooting scene, they said. The car was captured on a license plate reader an hour before and an hour after Loftis’ murder.
Police reviewed social media posts from Johnson and Rice where they mentioned Edwards’ death, officers said. Police also found other connections between Johnson and Rice, Loftis and Edwards’ family, they said.
“Through search warrants and open-source social media posts, it was discovered Sheldon made several posts and videos in which he [alluded] to committing the murder as revenge for Quinyana’s death, which he apparently believed Martin was responsible for,” police said in documents.
Johnson and Rice face charges of open murder, conspiracy to commit murder, burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary, records showed.
Johnson was no longer listed as in custody at the San Bernadino jail as of Wednesday afternoon, meaning he was likely transported to Las Vegas to face charges. It was unclear when he could appear in court.
Rice, who was already transported from California to Las Vegas, was due to appear in court Thursday.
Jose Tabares who Edwards hit head-on in the February crash, died from his injuries. His wife was injured in the crash.
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