Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Driver shot after hit-and-run accident escalates

Shooting scene

A hit-and-run accident Tuesday afternoon escalated into a shooting that sent one person to the hospital and another in jail on a count of attempted murder.

According to a Metro Police arrest report, a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Scott Eakens, 35, Las Vegas, was struck in a hit-and-run Tuesday near Sunset Drive and Eastern Avenue. Eakens reported the incident to 911 dispatchers and followed the other vehicle, a Ford F-150 pickup. An unidentified female directed Eakens into the business complex at 6200 McLoed Drive. There, Eakens later told police, he found the pickup and a man who appeared to be checking damage to the truck’s front end.

Eakens told police he pulled up behind the pickup to prevent it from leaving again. As Eakins was unbuckling his seatbelt to get out of his Grand Cherokee, he told police, the man got into the Ford, put it into reverse and rammed the driver’s side of the Jeep with the pickup's rear.

Saying he feared for his life, Eakens told police he removed a handgun from his waistband and fired multiple times into the Ford. Two of the rounds struck the Ford driver in the head, according to the report.

At that point, Eakens again called 911, this time to report the shooting. It was 5:15 p.m.

The Ford driver was transported to Sunrise Hospital but he was in surgery and unable to be interviewed by detectives, the arrest report said.

One witness told police he heard the crash and saw that the Ford had backed into the Jeep but did not hear any gunshots or see the shooting. Another told police he saw the Ford’s tires still spinning as it was backed into Eaken’s Jeep. The witness told police that when he approached Eakens, Eakens told him, “I killed him. I killed him.”

A passenger in Ford told police that he and the driver had taken unprescribed muscle relaxants earlier in the day. He added that the driver had been looking at his phone before he swerved and rear-ended Eaken’s Jeep to set the incident in motion. The passenger said he fled when he noticed the Jeep had followed them into the business complex, returning after heard three to four shots being fired.

Eakens had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and his handgun was licensed, the report said.

Police arrested Eakens, who is being held without bond in the Clark County Detention Center.

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