LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A 28-year-old man has been taken into custody in the deadly driveway carjacking that killed an east Las Vegas homeowner on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on Saturday. Treyvon Taylor faces a federal charge of carjacking resulting in death, according to Metro police.
Source: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, via 8 News Now / AmeriLedger
Metro police said Taylor was taken into custody on Friday by patrol officers, with assistance from the FBI, and was booked into the Henderson Detention Center. The arrest was announced on Saturday, November 14, four days after the killing, and it is the first arrest reported in the case.
What happened on Glenn Davis Drive
The collision happened at about 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10, near the intersection of South Glenn Davis Drive and Dennis Way, in the 4600 block of Glenn Davis Drive in east Las Vegas, near Nellis Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. Police were first called on a report that a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle.
Investigators say the homeowner saw someone taking his vehicle from his driveway and went outside to stop the theft. Metro Lieutenant Casey Clarkson told reporters the person who took the vehicle had seen it sitting unoccupied and running in the driveway, got in and began driving away. The homeowner stood in front of the vehicle in the roadway in an attempt to stop it, Clarkson said, and the driver quickly accelerated, struck him and fled the area.
Officers who reached the scene rendered aid until medical personnel arrived, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said in their briefing. His name has not been released by police in the reporting available so far.
Death ruled a homicide
The victim's death was ruled a homicide after investigators determined the driver deliberately hit the pedestrian, according to Metro police. That determination is why a case that began as a hit-and-run call is now being prosecuted as a carjacking resulting in death, a federal charge, rather than as a traffic collision alone. The charge against Taylor is an allegation: he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
A longtime friend of the victim, Melissa Cassidy, told KTNV she had known the man — whom she called Bob — for about two decades, and remembered him as someone who was always there to help others. Her tribute, published while the suspect was still being sought, captured the shock in the neighbourhood near Nellis and Harmon, where residents learned a man had been killed in the middle of the day for trying to stop his own vehicle being taken.
Why the case is federal, and what happens next
Carjacking is a federal crime in the United States when it is prosecuted under federal law, and a carjacking in which a victim dies is treated as the most serious form of the offence. Because Taylor faces a federal charge, his case will move through the federal court process, beginning with an initial appearance and detention proceedings, while Metro police and federal investigators continue their work. Police have not announced any additional suspects, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Known: the arrest, the federal charge, the time and place of the Nov. 10 killing, and the homicide ruling, all from Metro police. Not yet public: the victim's official name, any court date for Taylor, and whether the stolen vehicle was recovered.
For readers in Las Vegas and across the Punjabi diaspora in Nevada, the case is a stark reminder of how quickly a property crime can turn deadly. A running, unoccupied vehicle in a driveway was, on the police account, all it took to set the sequence in motion — and the man who tried to stop it never came back inside. Anyone with information about the incident was earlier asked to contact Metro police at 702-828-3521 or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers of Nevada.