A man accused in the killing of a man found dead in a pickup truck on Interstate 15 shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday morning told police he was partying with the man hours before on Fremont Street, according to an arrest report.
Joseph De Luna, 28, told officers with the North Las Vegas Police Department that he had been partying with a man he considered a “friend” Saturday night, the report said.
After drinking at a bar, the pair decided to drive around in a 2016 Dodge Ram pickup truck, though De Luna said he was too intoxicated to remember where they had driven.
While his friend drove, De Luna told police he became “concerned for his welfare” before he decided to put the truck into park while it was traveling south along I-15 in North Las Vegas, the report stated.
Because of the sudden stoppage, the truck “sideswiped” a concrete barrier near the Cheyenne exit off the interstate, the report said. Once the vehicle was stopped, De Luna said he shot the other man multiple times.
When police arrived, they found the man dead inside the truck. De Luna, a North Las Vegas resident, police said, made his first appearance in court Tuesday.
At a short hearing, Chief Deputy Public Defender Anna Clark said she would not yet argue for De Luna’s bail and De Luna remained in custody. He faces one count of open murder with a deadly weapon.
In a 911 call made just after 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, De Luna told dispatchers his friend had a gun, but that he threw it out of the truck’s window, according to the arrest report. After police arrived to the scene, however, De Luna admitted he never saw his friend with a gun.
As of late Tuesday, the Clark County coroner’s office had not yet released the identity of the man killed.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
