Police: Gunshot through apartment wall severed girl’s spine, neighbor arrested

A bullet last week entered a west Las Vegas Valley apartment through an adjoining wall to strike a young girl in the shoulder, severing her spinal cord.

On Nov. 20 around 4 p.m., police responded to an apartment near Charleston Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive to find a child lying on the floor of the bathroom surrounded by a pool of blood. It was believed she fell and hit her head; however, at University Medical Center, a bullet was found lodged in her neck, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report.

Officers found a bullet hole in the bathroom wall that led to a neighboring unit. Through witness interviews and video surveillance police determined that 31-year-old Arreion Willoughby fired a shot from a bedroom into the bathroom of the other apartment.

Police redacted the injured girl’s full birth date but, according to the report, she was born in 2017. The report said it was unknown whether the girl would survive her injuries.

The Clark County district attorney’s office charged Willoughby with seven felony counts including child abuse, discharging a gun into an occupied structure and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

When Willoughby fired the shots four children were in his apartment, according to the warrant.

Police said Willoughby had previous convictions for conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery.

Court records show Willoughby remains in custody on $500,000 bail and is due in court Dec. 11.

Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com.