Teenage Las Vegas murder suspect carjacks and crashes 3 vehicles during police chase
Anna Justice was sitting in her truck, minding her business, when she looked up and saw a rifle through her window.
“About 5:15, 5:18, this morning, someone approached me with an AK. Through my car window,” she said. “And tried to pull on my door handle and told me to get the F out of the car. I was going to drive off, but I saw his weapon and I just gave up the vehicle and left with my life.”
Justice didn’t know it at the time, but her carjacking was part of one of the wildest police chases Las Vegas has seen in years.
Three Las Vegas carjackings and three crashes in a single morning
“Earlier this morning, there was a murder that occurred in the jurisdiction of the North Las Vegas Police Department,” said Undersheriff Andrew Walsh. The victim was gunned down at the Aliante Casino around 4:30 a.m.
This would have been a great time for Aerion Warmsley to turn himself in. Instead, he tried to outrun the law and left a trail of destruction.
“Within about 30 minutes of that murder, there was a car accident that occurred near Spring Mountain and I-15,” Walsh continued. “Officers responded to that accident scene… and were alerted by a citizen that they had been recently carjacked.”
As more of story emerged, Las Vegas police put the pieces together: “Officers then got the information regarding the carjacking and quickly connected that the vehicle involved in the first accident was the suspect vehicle from the murder.”
“Officers found the suspect vehicle… and began a pursuit,” Walsh confirmed. When Warmsley lost control and crashed his stolen car, he should have seen the signs that this wasn’t going to end well. Instead, he doubled own. “A second carjacking occurred at the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant.”
Las Vegas carjacking suspect fled at 100 mph, crashed
“At one point, we believe the speeds were in excess of 105 mph on Boulder Highway.” The speed run ended when Warmsley smashed into a bus stop at Tropicana and Boulder Highway.
“Two citizens were at a bus stop where the suspect vehicle crashed… at least one of those citizens is in critical condition,” said Walsh. “They’re just sitting at a bus stop waiting to go about their day when the suspect crashed into that bus stop.” But that’s not the only thing Warmsley hit.
“I was in the turning lane right here on Boulder and Tropicana, and BOOM that’s it. Just crashed,” said Bill Henderson, who was sitting in his blue Dodge Challenger when Warmsley smashed headlong into him. “My bags deployed. It was like it wasn’t real. Everything was in slow motion.”
The end of the wild downtown car chase
After smashing into a bus stop and another car would have been a great time for Warmsley to surrender. But he didn’t. “The suspect again was able to escape from the vehicle and carjack another vehicle,” Walsh said.
In the final portion of the Las Vegas carjacking chase, Warmsley jumped into a vehicle’s back seat. The driver bailed. The teen took the wheel.
“Officers again were in pursuit… utilized the pursuit immobilization technique… and even rammed that vehicle.” They finally stopped the car and Warmsley was arrested near Sahara Avenue.
“Three carjackings and an unknown number of people that are actually injured,” Walsh concluded. “It’s important that we keep those folks in our thoughts and prayers.” You can see the latest coverage of the carjacking in the video below:
