Spat between NLV neighbors escalated to fatal shooting, police say
An escalating dispute between North Las Vegas neighbors turned fatal Friday when one of them shot a couple next door, according to an arrest report released this week.
The shooting that left 46-year-old Nicholas Davi dead and wounded his wife was partially captured on one of their children’s cellphones, footage North Las Vegas police used to arrest Joe Junio.
Gunfire erupted about 4:30 p.m. in the 6600 block of Lookout Lodge Lane, a neighborhood of condos tucked between Deer Springs and Aviary ways.
Both victims were rushed to University Medical Center, where the woman was expected to recover, police said.
Junio, 36, was booked on counts of murder, attempted murder, shooting a gun where a person might be endangered, and two counts of child abuse involving a gun.
The surviving victim told police that they contacted their homeowner’s association about Junio “for violations in relation to chickens and dogs.”
In the weeks prior to the shooting, police said, Junio had been “engaging in escalating threatening behavior,” which led the victims to summon police twice in December.
In one instance, Junio allegedly threw rocks into her neighbors’ yard and “ran her finger across her throat into a cutting motion and told them they were next,” police said. Another time, she threw large amount of dog feces, the report said.
The neighbors also accused Junio of flooding their home. They filed for a restraining order, and started sleeping elsewhere, police said.
On Friday afternoon, the shooting victims and their two children were in their driveway, getting ready to go out, when Junio drove by and stared at them, police said.
One of the victims told one of their children to record on their phone, police said.
After exchanging words with the family, Junio got out of her car, gun in hand, and opened fire, police said.
Police arrested her in the neighborhood, and she allegedly admitted to shooting Davi, but asked for a lawyer soon after, according to the report.
A hearing for the restraining order was scheduled for Jan. 8, according to the report. Instead, Junio is due in court that day on charges in connection with the shooting.
A previous version of this story misspelled Davi’s name.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.