Aerion Warmsley appeared to show little remorse after a fatal early morning shooting at the Aliante casino in North Las Vegas that was followed by a high-speed chase and a series of carjackings, a witness told Clark County grand jurors.
“He was like, yeah, I just killed a nap a— (racial slur), stomped on his head and all that,” testified Jamir Marchan, who accompanied Warmsley to the casino on March 27, the day of the crime spree.
Warmsley, 19, has been indicted on counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon, robbery, reckless driving resulting in substantial bodily harm and duty to stop at the scene of a crash involving death or personal injury. He also faces federal gun and carjacking charges.
The man killed, Na’Onche Osborne, was the son of Pat Spearman, a former North Las Vegas state senator and mayoral candidate.
Prosecutors have floated the possibility Warmsley could face the death penalty because of aggravating factors and the “mass destruction” Deputy District Attorney Morgan Lombardo said he left in his wake.
Helicopter video that became a grand juror exhibit shows the police pursuit, with a driver hitting other cars, appearing to nearly cause crashes, driving on the wrong side of the road and reaching speeds over 100 mph.
‘Pop, pop, pop’
Marchan said he and Warmsley, whom met in juvenile detention, were “doing Door Dash for a little,” went to a gas station and decided to gamble.
In the casino at about 4:30 a.m., the two met another man, Marchan said.
“We’re sitting down, we’re gambling like next to each other,” said Marchan. “Boom, some dude walked past us, the victim or whatever. He asked us, like, ‘Do you guys need some weed or pills?’”
Warmsley and the man got into a fight, Marchan said. “I heard the little pop, pop, pop, and that’s when everybody, like, took off running” on the casino floor, he said.
Casino surveillance video that became a grand jury exhibit showed two men talking to each other before one lunged toward and shot the other repeatedly, even after he fell to the floor. The shooter then appeared to go through the victim’s pockets.
Despite the body on the casino floor, some visitors in the video appeared to sit at their machines and gamble a short distance away.
Marchan panicked and asked people to give him money to take an Uber home. “And that’s when I seen Aerion just like fly past the front,” he said.
‘Not leaving no like witnesses’
As Warmsley fled, he saw Marchan, Marchan told grand jurors.
“He turned around,” Marchan said. “He like, ‘When I do something like that, you can’t leave me. Like you seen what I did. I’d have to come back and kill you because I’m not leaving no like witnesses.’”
Marchan thought his life might be in danger, but he got into Warmsley’s car, which Warmsley proceeded to crash, Marchan said.
Warmsley ran from the crash scene but returned with a different car, and Marchan rode with him again, but fled after Warmsley stopped at “his sister’s or his baby mama’s” house.
Other witnesses told grand jurors about suffering injuries and carjackings.
Anna Allen Justice said at about 5 a.m. on the morning of March 27, she was at a European motor shop located at Spring Mountain Road and Polaris Ave. She was waiting in her Mercedes to meet her husband, whose car was going to be serviced.
A young man who appeared to be only 16 or 17-years-old approached her car and started pulling on the door, trying to get in, Justice said. His eyes were glazed and he was breathless. He pointed a gun to her head and, with an expletive, ordered her to leave her car, she told grand jurors.
Justice said she begged Warmsley not to hurt her, ran from her car and hid behind a dumpster.
‘I woke up in the rocks’
Lee Gaston, a North Las Vegas homicide detective, testified that Warmsley also crashed into a bus stop, significantly injuring two people.
Henderson Police officer Keith Massenburg, who is part of the Metropolitan Police Department’s air support unit, testified Warmsley had ran a red light that he thought was at Boulder and Tropicana, “struck a vehicle and spun out, hit the bus stop and I saw at least one person go flying.”
The crash was captured on helicopter video.
One of the victims, Keshia Martin, said around 8 a.m., she was waiting for the bus at Boulder Highway and Tropicana Ave. when she noticed a silver car approaching.
“I felt dirt against my face, and then I panicked, and I remember reaching out, and then I don’t know what happened,” Martin said. “I turned or something and then I woke up in the rocks.”
Martin went to Sunrise hospital, according to the grand jury transcript. She told grand jurors she remains in pain.
Quiada Wilson said on the morning of March 27, she had dropped her children off and went to a Burger King at Boulder and Tropicana to get breakfast.
Wilson was in the drive-thru line when she saw a vehicle crash into a light pole at a bus stop. A man she assumed came from the car in the crash then approached her, opened her door and, with a gun in his hand, demanded she leave her car, Wilson said. She complied.
After the Burger King carjacking, Massenburg said Warmsley drove the wrong way on Boulder Highway, pursued by three police cars.
“Patrol unit, you need to back off from that car,” a voice in the helicopter video said.
“We need to get this guy pitted out and stopped,” a person then said, referring to a law enforcement tactic to stop vehicles. “He’s already carjacked someone and already murdered someone.”
Soon after, a voice in the video said Warmsley was driving about 107 mph. The video showed several near crashes.
“Deadly force ram is approved,” someone said.
Shortly before he was arrested, the video showed Warmsley carjacking another vehicle and climbing into their backseat as police tried to stop the car.
“Looks like there’s hostages inside,” a person in the video said. Police cars crashed into the vehicle and stopped it.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
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