Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010 | 5:40 p.m.
Fatal shooting
A warrant has been issued for a man Metro Police believe was involved in an Aug. 7 shooting that killed Derecia Newman and seriously injured her 12-year-old daughter.
Police are seeking Willie Darnell Mason on felony charges of 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 the warrant.
Last week, police arrested Monica Louise Martinez, 38, on the same charges related to the shooting, according to an arrest report.
Police received a call just before 4 a.m. Aug. 7 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 Newman dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head and her daughter with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Homicide detectives spoke with with Newman's boyfriend, who told police he and Newman sold marijuana and crack cocaine, according to the arrest report. He told detectives that 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, Mason and another man and woman discussed committing a robbery and stopped at an unknown apartment but didn't rob it because they believed the man inside owned a gun. Instead, they proceeded to Newman's apartment with plans to commit a robbery.
The woman told police that while she was handing Newman a $20 bill, the unknown man in their group shot Newman and her daughter, according to the arrest report. The woman didn't know where Martinez and Mason were during the shooting.
Martinez told police she heard screaming and gunshots, at which point Mason and the unknown man ran back to the vehicle, according to the report. Martinez drove with the two men and picked the other woman up around the block before dropping off all three at their residences.
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.
Besides Martinez, no one else in the group has been booked in the Clark County Detention Center.
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