‘Daddy, I think I killed someone’: Teen’s arrest report details northwest Las Vegas Valley slaying

A teen arrested in connection with a fatal shooting outside a Walgreens in the northwest Las Vegas Valley told police that he was intoxicated and having “murderous thoughts” that morning after stealing his parent’s credit card, according to an arrest report.

Joshua Martinez, 19, who was previously arrested and booked on suspicion of open murder, was asked by police to give his “timeline of events” for the shooting that left a man dead in the 6800 block of North Durango Drive on Monday, the report stated. This week, he appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court and was denied bail, facing a count of open murder.

The documents said that Martinez, informed of his Miranda rights, chose to speak to detectives without an attorney present.

Martinez told police that lately he had “murderous thoughts” that were seemingly intensified when he drank alcohol, the arrest report said. After getting a bottle of Jack Daniels from a friend the previous Friday, Martinez had some early Monday morning.

Police said Martinez stole his parent’s credit card around 2 a.m. and walked to a nearby Chase bank, where he attempted to withdraw money, though he did not have the correct PIN. While at the ATM, Martinez thought he saw a group of men wearing white sweatshirts watching him, according to the documents, so he walked home.

While at home, the teen began to feel paranoid and thought the group may have followed him home, police said. Martinez left the house again, this time armed with two handguns and in search of the men.

Martinez first found the victim, who had not been identified as of Thursday, near the 6900 block of North Durango, walking on the sidewalk with a white blanket wrapped around him, police said. According to the report, Martinez was unsure whether the man in the blanket was among those he had seen earlier, so he asked if he saw anyone in the area matching their descriptions.

‘Told the victim that he wanted to murder someone’

The man told Martinez no and asked him to borrow his cellphone so he could call the hospital, police said. Police also said that Martinez said he offered to walk with him to the one nearby and hugged him.

The two continued to walk and talk on Durango until they reached the steps to the Walgreens, where they eventually sat down, the report said.

The report also said that when officers and homicide detectives arrived on the scene around 3:15 a.m., they found surveillance videos from a nearby business showing Martinez, described as having “shaggy hair” and wearing a black hoodie, and the victim near the sidewalk and business where the event occurred.

During this interaction, “Joshua told the victim that he wanted to murder someone. The victim told Joshua he felt that way sometimes, too,” the report read.

According to the report, the victim also told Martinez that he had lit someone on fire before, and at that point, “something clicked,” and Martinez “knew he had to kill him.”

Martinez asked the victim if he wanted more alcohol, offering to go into the store to buy some, police said. It was then that he stood up and fired at the victim, who was seated and with his back faced to Martinez, once before running away.

When Martinez arrived home, he tried to pack a bag, alerting his father, Salvador Martinez, who asked what he was doing, the report said.

“Daddy, I think I killed someone,” the younger Martinez responded, handing his father a handgun, according to the report. Salvador Martinez did not initially believe his son, who was “intoxicated from alcohol and not making sense,” police said.

After seeing news reports of the killing, at about 9 a.m., Salvador Martinez arrived at the crime scene to tell an officer that his son was responsible, police said.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.