Las Vegas man faces attempted murder charge in girlfriend’s shooting

A Las Vegas man is facing attempted murder charges after he allegedly shot his girlfriend during an argument in an east valley apartment on May 31, police say.

Officers responded to the apartment on the 3200 block of South Pecos Road around 7:25 p.m. after receiving calls saying a had been woman shot. When they arrived, officers found two young boys standing outside. Inside they found a man and a woman, the latter lying on a bed and bleeding from a gunshot wound on the left side of her chest, according to an arrest report filed by Metropolitan Police Department officers.

The woman told police she had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend, Miguel Rivera-Colon, 24, when he shot her, the report said. The two had been dating for about six years and had two sons together: a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old, according to the report.

She told police they argued because Rivera-Colon wasn’t home enough. He had purchased a gun two weeks prior and had threatened to shoot her before but had never pointed the gun at her, the report said.

The woman said the argument began in the living room and Rivera-Colon threatened to shoot her in the leg, the report said. She went to the bedroom and was lying on the bed with he came into the room and shot her once in the chest before apologizing and putting the gun in the closet, she told police.

The woman was taken to Sunrise Hospital, where doctors said the gunshot had fractured two vertebrae, the report said.

When police spoke with Rivera-Colon, his story changed multiple times, according to the report.

He initially told officers that he’d purchased the gun for security, but that when he and his girlfriend began arguing she grabbed the gun and “almost shot him,” the report said. He said he tried to take the gun from her, but it went off and shot her accidentally, it said.

Later Rivera-Colon told officers that his girlfriend “told him she did not want to live” and shot herself in the left side, the report said. He initially said he stayed calm, but later changed his story to say he screamed at her for being lazy and not cleaning the house, according to the report.

Rivera-Colon was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and domestic battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, according to jail records. He is expected in court on July 30.

Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.