Police say wife tried to take blame in fatal shooting

A Las Vegas woman told police she fatally shot her neighbor last week during a party in her front yard, but authorities said that video showed she was taking the fall for her husband, who is charged in the killing.

The woman, who was not identified, told police she was outside in the early hours of July 2 drinking beer with her husband, Jose Henriquez, while their two daughters played outside their home on the 800 block of North Tonopah Drive. The couple invited their next door neighbor, Oscar Cano, 36, to join them.

She told police Cano started touching her leg and foot, and she shot Cano when he and Henriquez started fighting over the touching.

Detectives found surveillance on her phone that police said showed the woman holding her two daughters when Henriquez shot Cano.

“When detectives confronted (the woman) with what they saw on the video surveillance, she attempted to stick with her initial story, but kept saying she did not remember what happened,” police wrote in the report.

Henriquez told police he believed his wife shot Cano while she stood two feet away from him in an attempt to defend Henriquez. When police confronted him about the video evidence, Henriquez “admitted he was mad about Oscar touching (the woman’s) leg.”

Henriquez denied planning for his wife to take the blame.

He was arrested later July 2 and charged with murder. Court records show he is being held on $50,000 bail, and if he posts bail he is ordered to avoid the victim’s family and stay away from the area where the shooting occurred.

Henriquez is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Aug. 1.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.