The Las Vegas food bank where Shiloh Leutu allegedly beat a 60-year-old man who was defending his girlfriend (Google Maps).
A 60-year-old Nevada man tried to shield his girlfriend from two individuals who were "insulting and talking badly" to her after she didn't have a cigarette to give them, cops say. The pair allegedly jumped the man and beat him until he died.
Scott Dennis was in line at a Las Vegas food bank when Shiloh Leutu, 38, and another suspect asked Dennis' girlfriend for a cigarette, according to an arrest report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and local NBC affiliate KSNV.
The woman told them she didn't smoke, so Leutu and the man with him allegedly began accosting and ridiculing her for it. Dennis had stepped out of line to smoke, saw what was going on, then returned to shield his girlfriend from Leutu and the other man, according to police.
Using witness statements and surveillance video, cops determined that Leutu and the other man attacked and fatally beat Dennis outside the food bank. Cops say Leutu and the other man kept hitting and kicking him as he tried to get up off the ground.
"Detectives learned that the victim and a friend were in a line waiting for a business [the food bank] … to open," a police press release says. "A male approached the friend and started yelling at her. The victim stepped in and the male struck him in the face causing him to fall to the ground. A second male jumped in and the two continued to beat the victim until the crowd could stop them."
Leutu and the other man both left, with Leutu being tracked down and taken into custody on July 15 and the other suspect still at large as of Monday.
Court records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Leutu was charged with open murder and battery of an older person resulting in substantial bodily harm, but the Clark County District Attorney's Office decided not to pursue the murder charge.
Asked by the Review-Journal why the open murder charge was not pursued, the district attorney's office said it could later amend Leutu's charges depending on the autopsy report findings, which are not yet complete. The arrest report notes that the doctor who performed Dennis' autopsy stated that the assault contributed to a heart attack that Dennis may have had, but the official ruling is pending additional analysis, per the Review-Journal.
Leutu allegedly told detectives that Dennis had put him and the other suspect in headlocks after Dennis hit and kicked them. Surveillance footage, however, showed that Leutu and the other man were the aggressors, according to police.
Leutu was due to appear in court Monday in Clark County.