A month before authorities said he fatally shot a man at the Aliante casino, Aerion Warmsley trapped his girlfriend in his car and threatened to kill her after she accidentally spilled baby formula on his leg, according to police.
Warmsley, 19, was charged with second-degree kidnapping, coercion constituting domestic violence, and domestic battery in Las Vegas. Earlier this week, he faced 28 felony charges in North Las Vegas Justice Court, including open murder, burglary while in possession of a firearm or deadly weapon, and battery.
During a hearing Wednesday regarding the domestic violence charges, prosecutors called the incidents that spanned two months a “crime spree.”
“This court does have concerns today,” Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum told Warmsley. “The allegations contained in the police report that you punched the victim in the face, chest, and arms multiple times while telling her that you were going to kill her are extremely concerning to the court.”
Pointed a gun at her
Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department received a call on Feb. 18 from a woman who said she was the mother of Warmsey’s girlfriend. The woman told a dispatcher that she had been tracking her daughter’s whereabouts after she texted her about Warmsey’s threats, according to an arrest report from Metro.
When officers arrived, they learned that Warmsley had taken her to a different location in an unregistered dark blue Saturn SUV and that their 1-month-old daughter was also in the vehicle.
Police were able to reach the girlfriend by phone when Warmsley temporarily left the vehicle, and according to the arrest report, she sounded “fearful” of being caught on the phone or leaving the car.
Later, the girlfriend escaped with the help of her mother, who picked her and the infant up, police said. When police interviewed her after the alleged kidnapping, her face was swollen, and her eye was so severely damaged that a blood vessel broke, according to the report.
The alleged assault started days before when an argument about spilled baby formula turned physical, the girlfriend said in the arrest report. She added in the report that Warmsley had been abusive in the past, in which he beat her up, flashed a gun, and forced her into his car to stay overnight.
The girlfriend told police she “has been and was in fear for her life, and said “that ever since Aerion bought a firearm, she felt in even more fear for hers and her family’s lives,” the arrest report read.
She also reported that Aerion had pointed a gun at her and “cocked it back,” multiple times, police said.
A month after the reported abuse, Warmsley allegedly shot and killed Na’Onche Osborne inside the Aliante casino in North Las Vegas, before fleeing from police, carjacking, and injuring multiple people. He was arrested near Boulder Highway and Sahara Avenue, where the pursuit ended hours later.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
