Witness: Killing was a mistake

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

A Las Vegas man on trial for the shooting death of his longtime girlfriend pulled the trigger thinking a burglar was in his apartment, one of his friends testified Monday.

Prosecutors allege Kassard Omar Brown, 26, shot Rebekah Hanson, 26, to death Sept. 8, 2001, ending a longtime abusive relationship.

Chief Deputy District Attorneys Christopher Lalli and William Kephart told jurors during opening statements Friday that Brown believed Hanson was pregnant with another man's child and preparing to leave him.

Hanson, who had a 6-year-old daughter with the defendant, had been threatened with a shotgun by Brown in the past, prosecutors allege.

On Monday Lawrence Casias said he and Brown were walking toward Brown's North Nellis Boulevard apartment when Brown said he saw someone behind one of his bedroom windows.

When Brown got inside the apartment, he grabbed a shotgun and loaded it, Casias said.

"He said 'I'm gonna shoot somebody' or 'I'm gonna have to kill somebody,' " Casias said.

Brown walked out of his line of sight toward the bedroom, Casias said. He then heard someone say 'Omar' and two to three seconds later, the loud boom of the shotgun.

Brown came down the hallway, dropped the shotgun and said "I just shot my baby's mama," Casias said.

The two of them ran out of the apartment, but Brown asked him to go back to check on Hanson, Casias said. When he did so, it was obvious she was dead.

Brown was arrested at a friend's apartment.

While Casias told Deputy Public Defender Scott Coffee he had no reason to believe Brown wanted to hurt Hanson, he told Lalli that Brown was angry with her for having left the apartment earlier that evening.

Brown faces charges of open murder and possession of a short-barrel shotgun.

District Judge Michael Cherry is presiding over the trial.