The Latest: Gun charges added against suspect in Nevada case
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Latest on the killings of four people in Nevada over the past two weeks (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Prosecutors in Nevada have added 24 felony weapon charges to a criminal case alleging that a 19-year-old from El Salvador suspected of killing four people possessed and pawned property stolen from three of the victims.
A criminal complaint filed just hours ahead of Wilbur Martinez-Guzman’s initial court appearance in Carson City doesn’t charge him with murder.
It focuses instead on possession and sale of stolen property and alleges that because he is in the U.S. illegally he was prohibited from having 12 guns stolen from a Reno couple found dead Jan. 16.
In addition to jewelry stolen from two victims, Martinez-Guzman is accused of possessing a stolen computer, golf clubs and hand and power tools.
Prosecutors in Douglas and Washoe counties, where the slaying victims lived, say they plan to file murder charges against Martinez-Guzman in the coming days.
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11:05 a.m.
A pawn shop owner says a suspect in the killings of four people in northern Nevada used his passport for identification to sell jewelry believed to be stolen from two of the victims.
Northern Nevada Coin owner Allen Rowe said Thursday that 19-year-old Wilbur Martinez-Guzman didn’t speak English well, but nothing made store employees think the sales were odd or weird. Authorities have said Martinez-Guzman is from El Salvador and was in the United States illegally.
Rowe says routine paperwork that goes to local sheriffs, along with store video led investigators to arrest Martinez-Guzman last weekend.
Court documents filed ahead of Martinez-Guzman’s first court appearance on Thursday in Carson City allege that he sold rings belonging to a woman found dead Jan. 10 and a man found dead Jan. 16.
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10 p.m.
Neighbors are nervous in northern Nevada, where four people were killed this month in slayings that officials blame on a 19-year-old from El Salvador said to be in the U.S. illegally.
Authorities in Nevada and President Donald Trump in Washington are blaming the four killings over a six-day span on Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, who was arrested Saturday in Carson City.
On Thursday, Martinez-Guzman is due in a Carson City court on property crime charges alleging he sold victims’ property at pawn shops.
Prosecutors in Douglas and Washoe counties, where the victims lived, say they’re preparing to file murder charges in coming days.
The victims’ neighbors have boosted security around their homes with new alarms, floodlights and cameras.
