Shooter in Las Vegas bus terminal homicide swiped $100 from victim, police say
A fatal shooting near a bus station on April 25 occurred after the suspect demanded money from the victim, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report.
Jacob Conrad, 34, of Las Vegas, was taken into custody by Las Vegas police officers after being detained by a security guard at the Regional Transportation Commission’s South Strip Transit Terminal, the report stated.
He was arrested at University Medical Center the following morning on suspicion of open murder and robbery.
Engel Diaz Alarcon, 22, was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after being found with a gunshot wound to his abdomen in the 6600 block of Gilespie Street, according to an email from a Clark County coroner’s office spokesperson.
Police were called to the location, near Harry Reid International Airport, shortly before 9 p.m. April 25, according to the report.
Met at Taco Bell
According to an account given to detectives from Conrad, the two men had met at a nearby Taco Bell restaurant about 20 minutes before the shooting happened.
Conrad said Alarcon “agreed to give (Jacob) a ride to the bus station” and to give him $40 for a bus ticket to Denver.
Witnesses at the bus station, however, told police they saw Conrad “trying to take money by force or threat of force with a firearm,” according to the report.
One witness told police they saw Conrad “take money” from Alarcon’s hand after he had been shot.
Video footage from the bus station, according to the report, showed the two men arrive to a parking area in a Honda driven by Alarcon just before 8:40 p.m.
After the car was parked, the men walked inside the bus station and to a “bill-breaking” machine, the report stated. Alarcon is seen on video attempting to break a $100, though the machine did not accept it.
A $100 bill with a matching serial number to the one Alarcon attempted to break at the machine was later found on Conrad’s person, according to the report.
After leaving the station, the two men walked back to the Honda, where Conrad pointed “his right arm out at (Alarcon)” before being tackled by Alarcon. The men then fell out of view of security cameras.
About 30 seconds later, according to the report, Conrad stood up, holding “a firearm in his right hand.”
Witness dies
While the men appeared to struggle on the ground, a man later identified as Leonard Taylor Jr., 49, “turned to look at them on the ground” before running to the bus station to alert a security guard.
Shortly after returning with security, the report stated that Taylor “bent over as though struggling to breathe.” He later collapsed in the parking lot and was pronounced dead at the scene. His cause of death had not yet been determined, a Clark County coroner’s office spokesperson said in an email Tuesday.
An address for Conrad was not listed in the police report. As of Thursday, he was listed as an inmate at the Clark County Detention Center.
Conrad is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court on May 13, according to court records.
Contact Bryan Horwath at [email protected]. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
