Man who escaped from North Las Vegas police pleads guilty to 3 murders

A Las Vegas man who once escaped from North Las Vegas police custody for several days while charged with murder pleaded guilty Friday in three killings.

Along with murder, Alonso Perez, 29, was charged in a series of crimes dating to 2016, including robbery with use of a deadly weapon, attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, battery with use of a deadly weapon, grand larceny and conspiracy.

After Perez was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Mohammed Robinson, 31, five years ago, he escaped from the North Las Vegas police detective bureau by snapping his handcuffs in half, standing on a chair, shifting a ceiling tile and hoisting himself up into a crawlspace.

He then drove away in a rental truck that had been left with its engine running, but was recaptured within days.

Authorities have said Perez also was involved in the August 2016 slayings of Jeffrey Johnson, 50, near Charleston and Nellis boulevards, and Candelario Duran, 37, near Covey Lane and Irwin Avenue.

At one point, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Perez. But in exchange for prosecutors dropping the bid for capital punishment, he agreed to spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

At least one of the bullet casings collected at the scene of Johnson’s slaying matched casings found in Robinson’s shooting, a police report at the time stated. Shells also were linked to a pair of separate shootings, including the one that left Duran dead, that same month.

District Judge Tierra Jones is scheduled to sentence Perez later this year, though an exact date was not set Friday. Should he ever become eligible for parole, Perez faces deportation, as he is not a U.S. citizen.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.