LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A person accused of murdering a bartender in a seemingly random taking pictures in Downtown Las Vegas was on probation for a violent housebreaking, in response to paperwork the 8 Information Now Investigators obtained.
Phillip Sturdy, 18; and Charles Wright, 20, are accused of taking pictures and killing Hope Ritter, 29, in Downtown Las Vegas on Feb. 15, data stated.
Ritter, a single mom, labored as a bartender at Atomic Liquors on Fremont Avenue. The evening of the taking pictures, Ritter accomplished a shift on the bar after which stayed after her shift to have drinks with a patron, police stated.
Round 2 a.m., Ritter and the patron left the bar in Ritter’s automotive, police stated. Ritter parked her automotive in entrance of the particular person’s house and sat within the automotive with it working and its headlights on.
Shortly afterward, two males walked previous the automotive and shot at it, police stated. Ritter suffered two gunshot wounds within the taking pictures and died from her accidents.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from close by areas, discovering the 2 males at a number of companies within the space earlier than the taking pictures. Within the hour earlier than the taking pictures, the boys allegedly broke right into a automotive and tried to burglarize different automobiles.
Extra video surveillance confirmed the boys strolling within the space after which towards Ritter’s automotive earlier than the taking pictures, police stated. Video then confirmed the boys working away.
“No other people were seen on surveillance video near Ritter’s car immediately before or after the murder,” detectives stated.
Police later recognized the 2 males as Sturdy and Wright, they stated. Cellphone knowledge from the suspects’ telephones additionally locations them collectively and within the space of the homicide.
No motive was listed in court docket paperwork Tuesday as to why the boys allegedly killed Ritter nor did do police write who they think pulled the set off. Each males remained in custody Tuesday with out bail.
In 2022, Clark County District Court docket Decide Monica Trujillo sentenced Wright, who was a young person on the time, to probation for stabbing a person a number of instances throughout a theft, data stated. Wright had agreed to a plea deal. The stabbing sufferer survived.
In court docket paperwork earlier than that sentencing, Wright’s lawyer requested Trujillo to present his consumer “a chance.”
