Myron Manghum

On the evening of January 18, 2017, the life of Myron Manghum, a 33-year-old African-American man, was violently taken in a Las Vegas apartment. The shooting also killed 27-year-old Alyssa Nicole Velasco and left a third person seriously wounded.

Police were first called to the 700 block of McWilliams Avenue after reports of a man who had been shot. Officers found an adult male, later identified as Johnny Brooks, suffering from gunshot wounds to both of his hands. Before being taken to a hospital, Brooks told officers he had been shot inside a nearby residence. Police followed a trail of blood to an apartment on the 900 block of West Washington Avenue, where they discovered the bodies of Manghum and Velasco. The Clark County coroner later determined that Manghum died from a gunshot wound to the head, while Velasco died from gunshot wounds to her head and neck.

The investigation revealed that two men had been at the apartment with the victims earlier in the night. They left but returned shortly before the shooting, knocked on the door, and were let inside. According to prosecutors, an argument broke out, and Brooks was shot in the hands. He reportedly played dead as one of the assailants, Durwin Allen, pointed a gun at his head. At that moment, Velasco came out of a back bedroom screaming, which distracted the gunmen. As they ran toward Velasco, Brooks managed to fumble the front door open and escape.

The surviving victim initially identified one of the shooters in a lineup, leading police to their first suspect. On January 23, 2017, police arrested 31-year-old Durwin Allen. A few days later, a task force arrested a second suspect, 31-year-old Terrell Stewart. Both men were charged with multiple felonies, including two counts of murder with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, and attempted murder.

Prosecutors initially filed to seek the death penalty against both Allen and Stewart. The case faced a significant delay in 2020 when the key witness, Johnny Brooks, failed to appear in court to testify. Allen was released from jail to house arrest while investigators located Brooks in Texas and arrested him on a material witness warrant. When Brooks eventually gave a deposition later that year, he claimed he did not remember who shot him.

In February 2023, prosecutors withdrew their intent to seek capital punishment. In May 2023, Durwin Allen entered an Alford plea to two counts of second-degree murder, meaning he admitted only that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction. The next month, Terrell Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder for his role in Velasco’s death. As of July 2023, Allen had been sentenced to serve 10 to 25 years in prison, with credit for time already served.