It initially sounded like horrific fatal road rage: A Las Vegas mother of four who just finished giving her 15-year-old daughter a driving lesson followed by a driver they encountered on their way home, shot to death in front of their house.
But a police report released Friday gave a more detailed account of the late Feb. 12 incident, and raised new questions about whether the slaying of 44-year-old Tammy Meyers was truly a case of road rage or a neighborhood dispute that spiraled out of control.
The suspected gunman turned out to be a 19-year-old, who lived less than a block away and attended a nearby high school with two of Tammy Meyers’ sons in 2011-2012.
Meyers’ husband, Robert Meyers, said his wife even tried to counsel Erich Milton Nowsch Jr. after his father committed suicide five years ago.
Nowsch wasn’t driving, and didn’t tell his friends he was angry about a traffic encounter. He said he thought someone was after him, according to the police report.
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Nowsch displayed a handgun and .45-caliber ammunition to his friends and said he started shooting because he thought he saw a gun being pointed at him from the green car, according to the report.
“Got those kids,” he told his friends, according to the report. “They were after me, and I got them.”
Nowsch remained jailed Friday pending an initial court appearance Monday on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and firing a gun from a vehicle. It wasn’t clear if he had a lawyer.
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Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Brian Skoloff and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix and researchers Barbara Sambriski and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
