Murder charges dropped against older brother, cousin in double homicide

Angie Wagner

Thursday, March 25, 1999 | 8:01 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - A 17-year-old boy sobbed as murder charges against him were dismissed, but his father and younger brother weren't as lucky.

They, along with another relative, will stand trial in a shooting that killed two people.

Prosecutors alleged that on the night of Feb. 20, Gustavo Cumplido, 35, directed his two sons, Peter Cumplido, 17, and Matthew Cumplido, 15, and two nephews, Christian Angulo, 19, and Byron Angulo, 15, to pile in his pickup truck and hunt down a white vehicle that had fired a shot at Byron.

Cumplido handed his two sons each a gun and took one for himself, according to court testimony and statements made by the suspects. Cumplido and his two sons got in the back of his burgundy pickup truck while Christian drove and Byron rode in the passenger seat.

They tracked down a white pickup truck and shots were fired. Carlos Lopez, 20, and Eloy Nunez, 17, were killed. A third passenger, Efrain Hernandez, 18, was not injured.

The Cumplidos and the Angulo brothers were all charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith on Wednesday dismissed all charges against Peter and Byron. Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed that no shots were fired from the 9 mm pistol Peter was holding. Byron never held a gun, and Clark County Deputy District Attorney William Koot acknowledged it would be hard to prove a case against him.

Koot alleged Cumplido shot and killed the victims. Matthew fired his gun even though it did not hit anyone.

As the judge made his ruling, Cumplido pumped his fist and smiled. Matthew bowed his head and Peter clasped his hands together and began crying and hugging his father.

A father and son testified Wednesday during the preliminary hearing that the Cumplido family had been repeatedly harassed. Police had been called to the Cumplido home several times because of reports that someone fired shots at their home and broke the windows of two vehicles.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that the incidents began when Matthew had a dispute with another boy over a girl.

Defense attorneys claimed the family only got in the truck the night of Feb. 20 because shots had been fired at Byron. No guns were found in the victims' truck.

"They got in the truck and chased them down like a bunch of rabid dogs," Smith said. "If a father tells a 15-year-old person to shoot someone - is that OK because a 15-year-old obeys his father? They probably had had enough but that doesn't give them the excuse to drive around the street and start shooting."