More details emerge in Las Vegas 7-Eleven killing

A week after a man was fatally shot in a 7-Eleven, an undercover cop doing surveillance on something unrelated spotted a man spray painting graffiti on a wall east of downtown Las Vegas.

It was that apparently chance encounter, according to a police arrest report, that led to the man being arrested in connection with the fatal shooting.

Ricardo Ruiz, 37, was shot multiple times while inside the 7-Eleven store at 1101 E. Bonanza Road, near North Maryland Parkway, on Nov. 20, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.

It was unclear from the arrest report, which contained multiple redactions, if Ruiz was an employee or customer at the store.

Two shooters were involved, police said. The shots were fired through a window into the store. Fifteen 9mm casings were recovered from the scene by investigators.

Ruiz was taken to University Medical Center, where he died on Nov. 27.

Edwin Medrano-Sanchez, 18, was arrested on Jan. 9.

According to Metropolitan Police Department arrest report, the eventual arrest of Medrano-Sanchez was kicked off by a detective who saw a man spray painting a wall at N. 14th Street and and E. Mesquite Avenue just at about 8:10 p.m on November 26.

The man then got into a dark blue Nissan, the report said. Police officers tried to stop the car but it took off and police lost sight of it.

But officers looked up the vehicle’s records. They also saw that the car’s license plate, when queried through a license plate reader system, was captured in a photo parked on Pecos Road in Las Vegas.

The car looked like the same car used by the suspects who had been in an argument with the victim at the 7-Eleven hours before the shooting. Surveillance cameras at the store showed four men getting into an argument with the victim at the 7-Eleven hours earlier on the day of the shooting.

Somebody in the store, possibly the victim — who exactly it was isn’t clear in the arrest report, because the name was redacted — pulled out a gun during the argument, causing the four men to leave the store.

The men appeared to get into a Nissan that had distinct white writing on the bottom half of the windshield, a message that was also redacted from the police report.

But it looked like the same vehicle that police saw in the license plate reader’s system. Police also spotted the car parked at a redacted address, and they also determined that Medrano-Sanchez possibly lived at that address — information that was also unclear from the arrest report.

A search warrant executed at a home on Jan. 5 resulted in a gun being found in Medrano-Sanchez’s closet. The gun matched the description of one of the guns used in the shooting at the 7-Eleven.

In a police interview, according to the Metro arrest report, Medrano-Sanchez was asked by a detective if the shooting was a case of self-defense, or something more than the video captured.

Police said Medrano-Sanchez then admitted to the shooting, the arrest report said.

According to court records, Medrano-Sanchez faces charges of open murder, conspiracy to commit murder, firing a gun into an occupied structure, and assault using a deadly weapon.

He remains in custody with his next court date set for Thursday.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrettClarkson_ on Twitter.