The man police have accused of gunning down a Las Vegas woman after an apparent road rage incident confided in two friends hours after the shooting that he had shot someone, according to a police report released Friday.
The two friends told police that Erich Milton Nowsch had texted one of them after the incident and asked if he could come over. He said he had important news, one of the witnesses told police.
Nowsch described two shootings to the friends and told them people in a green car were out to get him.
One of the witnesses told investigators that the 19-year-old suspect said he “got those kids. They were after me, and I got them.”
Nowsch will be arraigned Monday morning and faces a growing number of charges, including one count of murder. The other charges include one count of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of firing a gun from a car.
Police said he shot Tammy Meyers, a 44-year-old mother of four, in front of her home on the night of February 12 after there was a confrontation while Meyers’ was giving her daughter a driving lesson.
The police report also says Nowsch had been detained Tuesday for an unrelated warrant that was issued while he was a juvenile. During questioning he told investigators he was with a friend at a recording studio and wasn’t involved in shooting Meyers.
But the friend told police the next day that he dropped Nowsch off at a park about 9:30 p.m. and they never went to a studio.
Witness: He said he fired 22 shots
Police found two shooting scenes: one near a junior high school and the other in front of the Meyers’ home less than a half mile away.
Six .45 caliber cartridge casings were picked up at the first scene.
There were seven more .45 casings at the site of the killing, one .45 bullet with human blood on it, and three 9mm cartridge casings.
Brandon Meyers, the 22 year-old son of Tammy Meyers, told police he had a Beretta 9mm handgun and fired after the shooter aimed at him and his mother, the report says.
According to Nowsch’s friends, Nowsch told them he was riding in a silver Audi sedan when he was threatened so he put a magazine in his handgun and shot at the green car.
The Audi then followed the Meyers back to their house.
Nowsch claimed that he fired his gun 22 times while in front of the home, the report says.
Nowsch showed the two friends his gun, some extra magazines and a box with more rounds, the witnesses told police.
After the shooting the suspect and the person driving the Audi switched cars and the friend dropped him off at Santa Fe Station, a hotel and casino, the police report says.
He then called and texted one of the witnesses and got a ride to their apartment.
It began in a school parking lot
Nowsch told his friends he was sitting in a park when he saw a green car. He thought the people were looking for him.
Apparently the car’s driver was Kristal Meyers. She was driving a green 1993 Buick sedan around the adjacent parking lot at the junior high school, getting a driving lesson from her mother, the girl told police. Kristal Meyers also took a few loops around the block before switching seats with her mother.
Tammy Meyers took an indirect route home and as she was on a six-lane road, a silver car pulled up next to them. Kristal Meyers told police she reached over and honked the horn. The driver of the other car then followed them as the Meyers turned twice before the other car passed them in a bicycle lane and stopped sideways in front of them.
Kristal Meyers told police that the driver got out and yelled: “I’m going to come back for you and your daughter.” The man was 6-feet tall, the daughter told police. Nowsch is much shorter.
Police said Thursday they are looking for at least one more suspect in connection with the case.
Son says he told mom to call police
Critics have said that Tammy Meyers should have then gone home and gone inside to call police. Instead, when she arrived at the house she sent her daughter inside to get her son. Told that someone was threatening his mother and sister, Brandon Meyers went into his grandmother’s room and grabbed his handgun.
When he got to the car, Brandon Meyers told his mother “to come in the house and call the police,” he recounted to investigators. She insisted he come with her or she was going out alone, the police report says.
The two drove around for a short time before encountering the gray car, the son said. They followed it and at some point the car stopped and the passenger shot at them. Brandon Meyers told police he ducked and didn’t return fire.
Tammy Meyers sped home and when she parked in front of the house, which is at the end of a cul-de-sac, Brandon Meyers got out and raced over to his mother. But before he could help her out, the silver car came down the street and the passenger shot at them.
Brandon Meyers said he fired three times at the driver but didn’t know if he hit anything.
Tammy Meyers was struck in the head by the gunman in the Audi, police said. She died two days later at a hospital.