Insets (clockwise from top): Karla Abarca, Francisco Chairez-Hernandez in court, surveillance video of Francisco Chairez-Hernandez wielding an AR-15 (GoFundMe/KTNV/KLAS). Background: Nevada cops at the scene of the shooting that left Las Vegas mom Karla Abarca dead (KTNV/YouTube).
A Nevada woman eating ice cream with her daughter was gunned down in front of her by a man wielding an AR-15, cops say. The mom allegedly got caught in the crossfire of an afternoon shootout, with the accused killer claiming he opened fire on another man in self-defense.
Karla Abarca, a 51-year-old mother of five, was "running errands with her daughter" in Las Vegas when the "unfathomable tragedy" occurred, according to a GoFundMe launched by one of her children.
"Her loss has robbed our family of decades of memories, love, guidance, and time we should have had with her," the description says.
Francisco Chairez-Hernandez, 21, is charged with murder, attempted murder, assault with use of a deadly weapon and discharging a gun into a vehicle for the afternoon shooting death of Abarca last week.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release Monday that Abarca was killed around 3:15 p.m. while sitting in the driver's seat of her vehicle near East Bonanza Road and North Lamb Boulevard. The car was stopped and she was eating ice cream with her daughter, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
"An armed male exited a vehicle in a nearby parking lot," the LVMPD release said. "He approached another male who was sitting at a bus stop. The suspect discharged his firearm at the male while he ran from the bus stop."
An arrest report obtained by the Review-Journal says Chairez-Hernandez told police he drove to a parking lot in the 4400 block of Bonanza and exchanged words with another man — thinking he was someone who had recently broken into Chairez-Hernandez's car, per the report.
"[The other man] and Francisco engaged in a short verbal altercation before Francisco exited his Toyota holding his phone in one hand and a rifle in the other," the arrest report says.
According to Chairez-Hernandez, the other man pulled out a gun and fired two shots at him, prompting Chairez-Hernandez to open fire in self-defense. Police say the other man was running away when Chairez-Hernandez attempted to shoot him three times but missed, striking Abarca instead.
"Francisco confessed to the shooting but alleged he was defending himself against [the other man] who was being 'hostile' toward him," according to the arrest report.
Chairez-Hernandez fled and police later identified him using automated license plate reader cameras. His lawyer reportedly said in court Tuesday that the other man was carrying a revolver in a backpack and had his hand on it, which prompted Chairez-Hernandez to retrieve his AR-15.
"This is a horrific and tragic incident that happened here that Mr. Hernandez feels awful about," defense attorney Ryan Helmick said, according to the Review-Journal. "He doesn't lift the gun until the shots are fired at him."
Helmick added, "Our position is there is a self-defense aspect to this case."
Clark County prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci insisted that Chairez-Hernandez was ultimately to blame for Abarca's death.
"The defendant forces the issue," Pesci said. "There's no need to do that. Just call 911 and say, 'Guess what, I found the guy.'"
When asked by police why he didn't drive away when he saw the other man place his hand on the revolver, Chairez-Hernandez said "he didn't want to get trapped in the car and get shot," according to the arrest report.
"Francisco stated he did not see the firearm until he got closer to the individual and he started to get shot at," the report says, per local NBC affiliate KSNV.
While asking police what he was being arrested for, Chairez-Hernandez allegedly said, "I think I know what it is, but I hope it's not that."
Chairez-Hernandez was ordered held without bail Tuesday.
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