Thanks in part to a quick-thinking witness, a Las Vegas woman has been charged with murder after allegedly hitting a pedestrian with a vehicle, according to court and police records.
Mariana Armenta-Jauriqui, 23, was charged with one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon on Friday, according to Las Vegas Justice Court and jail booking records, following an incident a day earlier that left a man dead.
A Metropolitan Police Department report said a man named Jerry Velarde was pronounced dead at University Medical Center shortly after being struck by a GMC pickup truck at West Sahara Avenue and South Valley View Boulevard at around 2 a.m. on Thursday.
A witness told investigators she witnessed the incident while stopped at a red light at Sahara and Valley View.
She said Velarde, while on foot, was being targeted by the driver of the pickup, telling authorities that Velarde “went to the right to get away, but the truck intentionally moved towards him,” according to an arrest report.
The witness said Velarde then moved in the oppostie direction in an attempt to get away from the truck, but the vehicle’s driver then “reversed to better position themselves to go after the victim,” the report said.
After the truck struck Velarde, the witness then gave chase, following the truck, which had fled eastbound on Sahara. Moments later, the driver of the truck, according to the witness, stuck their “hand out the window and gave (the witness) the middle finger.”
The witness gave up the chase after the truck entered a construction zone. The truck, however, was pulled over by a Metro patrol vehicle after it entered the closed-off construction zone, near the 3200 block of Rancho Drive, according to the report.
Not knowing about the reported hit-and-run at the time, the officers who made the stop let Armenta-Jauriqui go with only a warning, the report said.
Because the witness was able to get the license place of the truck, however, police were able to track the vehicle to its owner, who had loaned the truck to Armenta-Jauriqui.
Police located the truck at the owner’s apartment complex and noticed “apparent blood” on its “rear passenger fender,” the report stated.
According to the report, investigators were able to identify Armenta-Jauriqui as the driver of the pickup from security camera footage from a gas station near Sahara and Valley View. Armenta-Jauriqui was taken into custody just after noon on Thursday.
She has a bail hearing set for March 4, according to court records.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
