Tammy Meyers and Erich Nowsch were neighbors. Their homes are walking distance from each other and from a park.
It was in that park where, according to Meyers’ husband, she used to talk to the young man, where she implored him to act like an adult.
On Thursday, Nowsch was arrested, accused of killing Meyers in what has been described as a road rage incident that ended a week ago with a shooting in front of Meyers’ home.
“We know this boy. I couldn’t tell you this before,” Robert Meyers told reporters after the arrest. “He knew where I lived. We knew how bad he was, but we didn’t know it was this bad. That he’d gotten to this point, and his friends.”
Nowsch, 19, faces three felony charges: murder, attempted murder and unlawful discharge of a gun from a vehicle. A Monday morning court hearing has been scheduled.
Robert Meyers said his wife tried to help Nowsch.
“My wife spent countless hours at that park consoling this boy,” he said. “She was really good to him. She fed him, she gave him money. She told him to pull his pants up and to be a man. More times than I can count.”
Police said they are looking for at least one more suspect, but they believe Nowsch was the shooter. Homicide Capt. Chris Tomaino told reporters that he owned registered firearms but wouldn’t say how many guns or what type of weapons they were.
It was unclear Thursday night whether Nowsch had an attorney; court documents detailing his charges didn’t list a lawyer.
Nowsch was taken into custody in the afternoon after a brief, tense standoff at his mother’s home, which is one street over from the Meyers’ house.
Police have said the shooting followed a road-rage incident that took place last week near a junior high school where Meyers gave her 15-year-old daughter a night-time driving lesson.
As Meyers drove the less than half mile home, a car sped by and her daughter reached over and honked at the driver. Police said the car stopped and the driver got out to confront the Meyerses.
Robert Meyers told HLN’s Nancy Grace on Thursday that the man threatened to kill his wife and daughter.
Tammy Meyers, 44, took off for home and sent her daughter inside. Lt. Ray Steiber, a Las Vegas homicide detective, said earlier this week that the daughter was asked to send her 22-year-old brother out. He brought with him a gun he owned.
Steiber said Meyers then went looking for the road rage suspect, but, according to her husband, she just wanted to keep the situation away from the house.
“She just didn’t want it to come back here. She tried to get him to go somewhere else,” he said.
Robert Meyers, who was out of town when his wife was shot, said the other car followed the Meyers and at some point away from the house there were gunshots.
Tammy Meyers fled home and told her son to take cover as she parked in front of the house. The car — with three people inside, the family has said — approached.
Meyers’ son told police that they were fired upon, and he defended him and his mother. His father says he took three or four shots and found his mother mortally wounded.
The father defended the family against criticism that they should have gone into the house when mother and daughter arrived after the road rage incident.
“My son is a good boy. His mom was a good mommy,” Robert Meyers said.
During a standoff at Nowsch’s house earlier Thursday, Robert Meyers chastised reporters, whom he felt were placing blame on his loved ones.
“Are you all happy? You made my wife look like an animal … and my son. There’s the animal, a block away. Are you happy?” Robert Meyers screamed.
Police are looking for a second suspect, Tomaino, the homicide captain, said. He wouldn’t say whether that person was the suspect depicted in a drawing handed out by police.
The captain said authorities were unaware until Thursday that the Meyers family knew Nowsch.
He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.