Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010 | 5:55 p.m.
Fatal shooting
A Las Vegas woman has been arrested in connection with a series of felonies, including murder, in the Saturday morning shooting that killed a woman and seriously injured her 12-year-old daughter.
Monica Louise Martinez, 38, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary while in possession of a firearm, robbery with use of a deadly weapon and murder with a deadly weapon, according to an arrest report.
Police received a call just before 4 a.m. Saturday about a shooting at an apartment complex in the 5600 block of Meikle Lane, near Lake Mead and Nellis boulevards in northeast Las Vegas.
When police arrived, they found Derecia Newman dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head and her 12-year-old daughter with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
The girl was taken to University Medical Center and is listed in critical condition, police said.
Homicide detectives spoke with with woman's boyfriend, who told police they sold marijuana and crack cocaine, according to the arrest report. He told detectives that Derecia Newman had arranged for a woman to buy illegal drugs, and within 10 minutes he heard gunshots at the front door.
According to the arrest report, Martinez, the woman and two other men discussed committing a robbery on the way to Newman's apartment.
The woman told police that while she was handing Derecia Newman a $20 bill, an unknown man with their group shot Newman and her daughter, according to the arrest report. The woman didn't know where Martinez and the second man were during the shooting.
Martinez told police she heard gunshots, then the two men came back to the vehicle. Martinez drove around the block to pick up the other woman and proceeded to drop off all three at their homes, according to the arrest report.
Four other children were inside the apartment at the time of the shooting but were unharmed, officials said.
During a recorded statement at the hospital, the 12-year-old girl, who witnessed the shooting death of her mother, said the gunman took a handful of rock cocaine from a plate and stole an unknown amount of cash from a nightstand in an apartment bedroom.
No one else has been booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
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