A Las Vegas man surrendered to police with a gunshot wound to his abdomen Tuesday evening, hours after fatally shooting his girlfriend and her two children in what he described as a “blackout” rage over her infidelity.
Juan Orona, 29, approached officers shortly after 7 p.m. And confessed to killing Nohani Flores-Osuna, her 16-year-old daughter Maiya, and her young son Noah, a kindergartner, according to an arrest report. The triple homicide unfolded at an apartment complex in west Las Vegas where Orona had been staying with the family.
The violence began after Orona spotted Flores-Osuna’s car near the vehicle of her ex-boyfriend, identified only as “Henry,” earlier that day. He confronted her at the apartment, where she allegedly admitted she had been unfaithful. Orona told police she went further, telling him that her ex-boyfriend was “better in bed.”
Orona claimed he then “blacked out” and later found himself holding his 9mm Glock handgun in the bathroom, with Flores-Osuna and her two children dead on the floor.
He told dispatchers the shooting happened inside the apartment on the 5100 block of O’Bannon Drive, near Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard. He also reported that the gun was inside a backpack in his vehicle. Police forced their way into the apartment and discovered the three victims.
Orona told police he recalled Flores-Osuna and her children either yelling at him or coming toward him during his blackout, but he could not provide further details. He did not deny shooting the three victims, though he claimed he could not remember who he shot first or why.
The 29-year-old had been dating Flores-Osuna for roughly three to six months and had helped pay rent for the apartment where the killings occurred. He reportedly told detectives he knew he needed to surrender and be held accountable.
His father told police Orona called around 7 p.m. Tuesday saying he had hurt his girlfriend and her children. The father then accompanied Orona and his brother as he turned himself in.
Orona was taken to Sunrise Hospital for treatment of his abdominal gunshot wound. The arrest report does not specify whether the injury was self-inflicted.
At Thursday’s hearing, Orona’s court-appointed public defender asked to delay the bail decision to allow time to review the case. He is facing three counts of open murder with a deadly weapon and 10 counts of firing a gun into an occupied structure.
Orona remains in the Clark County Detention Center and is scheduled to return to court in September.