Murder-suicide victims included children, 6 and 14, officials say
Officials have identified four people, including two children, who died in what authorities described as a murder-suicide at the hands of a man awaiting trial on child sex assault charges.
A third child found shot Monday inside a northwest valley apartment was “clinging to life,” police said at the time.
Schinara Patterson, 34, Zi’Myra Patterson, 6, and Ki’Ziah Cone, 14, died of gunshot wounds to the head, a county spokesperson said. Their deaths were ruled homicides. A 42-year-old man identified as the shooter, Marvin Ray Patterson, died by suicide from a gunshot wound to the head.
Patterson had been released on house arrest last year in a child sexual assault case, according to officials and court records.
He was facing charges of five counts of lewdness with a child under 14, lewdness with a child under 16, kidnapping of a minor and two counts of sexual assault against a child under 16, court records show.
Metropolitan Police Department officers were called Monday morning after a man reported that he had found several people dead at the Loreto & Palacio Apartments, near Durango Drive and U.S. Highway 95.
Metro homicide Lt. Robert Price said the man shot the woman, children and himself, and that the shooter’s brother discovered the scene on Monday morning.
Patterson’s criminal case stemmed from an arrest in October 2022, court records show. He was initially placed on a $100,000 bail, but Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan lowered his bail to $10,000 in December 2022. The judge also ordered Patterson to be placed on high-level electronic monitoring and to not have any contact with the victims or children under the age of 18.
He posted bond and was released on house arrest in December 2022, court records show.
At the time Patterson was arrested last year, his only criminal history in Clark County was a 2006 conviction for an attempted theft gross misdemeanor charge, court records show.
Sullivan said that when she made her decision she was following requirements from a 2020 Supreme Court decision that said judges should find the least restrictive means to ensure a defendant’s court appearance.
An online fundraiser created by Schinara Patterson’s sister, Micheala Bernoudy, had raised almost $6,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Bernoudy wrote that the family needed donations to help cover funeral expenses.
“Just 1 day after my sister’s birthday Dec. 11th, her life was taken away by her husband, along with her beautiful sweet babies Zi’Myra, 6 years old, & Ki’Ziah 14 years old,” Bernoudy wrote. “Her son Derrick who just turned 11 Dec. 6 is still in the hospital fighting for his life.”
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X. Staff writer David Wilson contributed to this report.