February 20, 2015
A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday in the road-rage killing of a Las Vegas mother of four that stunned the community, and police said at least one more suspect remained at large.
The arrest of Eric Nowsch after a brief stand-off marked the first break in the case since 44-year-old Tammy Meyers was shot outside her home on Feb. 12, just minutes after an angry confrontation with another driver.
Meyers died on Saturday after being taken off life-support at a Las Vegas hospital.
"A suspect involved in the killing of Ms. Meyers is in custody and off the streets of Las Vegas," said Captain Chris Tomaino of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at an afternoon press conference.
Police declined to say if they believed Nowsch was the person who shot Meyers. Witnesses say more than one person was in the suspect car at the time of the altercation.
A friend of Nowsch who asked that she be identified only as Shelby said that he had been questioned by detectives two days earlier.
Shelby said she didn't believe Nowsch could have been involved in the sensational crime, calling him a "friendly neighborhood kid" who did not resemble a police sketch released earlier this week of a suspect in the case.
"He was good kid, didn't get into trouble. All he did was smoke pot, but so do all the kids around here," she said. "He was scrawny, like microscopically thin."
According to Las Vegas police Lieutenant Ray Steiber, who spoke at a news conference earlier this week, the incident began around 11:20 p.m. on Feb. 12 when a silver sedan sped alongside Meyers as she drove home after giving her 15-year-old daughter a driving lesson.
After Meyers' daughter reached over from the passenger side and honked at the speeding car, a suspect described by police as a white man in his 20s or early 30s got out and yelled at them, Steiber said.
Meyers drove home, where her daughter got out of the car and her son got in, carrying a loaded handgun, Steiber said.
Mother and son drove through the neighborhood in search of the other car and driver but, after failing to find them, returned home, only to have the suspect vehicle arrive and open fire, according to Steiber.
Meyers' son shot back, Steiber said, then discovered that his mother had been hit.
