A 21-year-old Nevada woman faces open murder charges after her alleged involvement in the murder of her friend’s boyfriend, according to an arrested report.
Keara Drayer faces charges of open murder and challenging to fight with a deadly weapon, police said.
On Oct. 2 around 4 p.m., North Las Vegas officers were dispatched to a home in the 20 block of Hoke Edward Court near Lone Mountain Road and Commerce Street after reports of a shooting, records showed.
A witness told dispatch that they heard several gunshots, saw a vehicle leave the scene, and a woman was screaming that her boyfriend was dead, police said.
When officers arrived, they found cartridge cases inside the front door, blood spattered on the stairs, and a man “lifeless” in an upstairs bedroom with blood on his shirt.
The man, later identified as 21-year-old Jimmy Smith III, was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim’s autopsy showed that he had a total of six gunshot wounds to his body, the report said.
When officers spoke to Smith’s girlfriend, she told them that they had lived together for over two years and they had a newborn child together.
Smith had recently gone through his girlfriend’s phone and saw that she was talking to a longtime friend, identified as Drayer, whom he did not get along with. Smith then took his girlfriend’s phone and texted Drayer, allegedly saying he was going to slap her, police said.
Earlier that night, the girlfriend heard a car pull up to the home. Shortly after, Drayer walked into the couple’s bedroom, unannounced, asked for her shoes, and then grabbed them from the bedroom closet.
Drayer then confronted Smith over the text message saying, “You said you were gonna slap me? I wanna see it!,” and “You suck, come outside.”
Smith then followed Drayer out of the bedroom and started to go down the stairs. While he was at the stairs, the victim’s girlfriend heard him confront two men saying “Why are y’all here, y’all don’t live here,” the report said.
She then heard several gunshots and saw from an upstairs window, that Drayer and three other people run out of the house and into a car.
On Oct. 3, Drayer was taken into custody by the Las Vegas Criminal Apprehension Team while in the car with another woman.
When officers spoke to the other woman, she said the previous night, Drayer drove to Smith’s house to pick up slides with her and two other men in the car. When they got to the house, Drayer and the two men kept telling the woman to “pay attention” and keep a lookout, the report said.
Several minutes after Drayer went into the house, the two men followed. She then heard arguing followed by gunshots. Drayer and the two men, one of which was carrying a gun, then came running out of the house, police said.
Drayer and the woman then dropped the men off at an apartment complex.
When officers spoke to Drayer, she said that she and Smith’s girlfriend were longtime friends, however, she never got along with him, saying he was very controlling of who she hung out with.
She said she was at Smith’s house the night prior to the shooting and cooked them all dinner. When she left for the night, she was under the impression they were all on good terms.
However, the next day she texted her friend, “need to come get my shooooes,” to which she responded, “yeah, come get um,” and something along the line of “you’re gonna get slapped,” the report said.
Drayer said this caught her off guard and felt the text actually came from Smith. She then got a FaceTime call from Smith and he told her “come get em.”
She told officers that when she went over to the house the night of the shooting, the victim chased her out of the bedroom and she never saw a gun and only heard gunshots, police said.
Drayer was arrested and booked in the North Las Vegas jail. In the state of Nevada, a murder charge can apply to those who aid or abet in a murder, not just the person accused of pulling the trigger.
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