A 28-year-old Hispanic man, Francisco Mares, lost his life in a shooting on July 31, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The incident occurred around 5 p.m. when police responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash near Rancho and Vegas drives. Arriving officers discovered Mares unresponsive in the driver's seat, suffering from a fatal gunshot wound. His death was subsequently ruled a homicide by the Clark County coroner's office.
Investigators believe Mares was shot while driving, which caused him to lose control of his vehicle and collide with a wall.
Just days after the shooting, on August 2, 2022, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced the arrest of a suspect, 27-year-old Brian Diego Terrazas. Terrazas and Mares were reportedly friends. According to police reports, Terrazas was a passenger in Mares' vehicle. He later confessed to investigators that he had been suffering from withdrawals and, in a desperate state, held a gun to Mares' head while he was driving.
During his confession, Terrazas detailed the events that followed the shooting. He admitted that after the car crashed, he fled the scene. In an attempt to conceal his involvement, he disposed of the gun and his clothing in a nearby storm drain. Police were able to locate Terrazas with the help of surveillance footage from a local church that captured a man matching his description near the crash site. Brian Diego Terrazas was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a charge of open murder.
