LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Police documents released Thursday track the path investigators followed to identify Hakeem Collette as the shooter in a May 9 shooting that left two children, a 14-year-old boy, and 12-year-old girl, injured.
The shooting occurred near the 8900 block of Jamie Lee Avenue near the intersection of Elkhorn Road and Durango Drive in northwest Las Vegas.
According to the report, witnesses of the shooting told officers they had seen a white sedan with two men inside shooting at the two children. Police documents indicated that the sound of the gunfire was described as automatic, with witnesses reporting 10 to 15 shots had been fired. Additionally, investigators found video of a white sedan speeding through the neighborhood just minutes before reports of the shooting had begun reaching 911 dispatchers.
Investigators on the scene had found 9mm casings at the shooting scene and had determined that the gunfire had come from the driver’s side of the sedan, the report indicates.
One day after the shooting, police documents said officers were notified of a text message identifying the shooter as “Hakeem.” With that information, and a witness description of the driver, detectives identified Hakeem Collette, 17, as a match. Collette was on probation for conspiracy to commit robbery and had previously been arrested on suspicion of the attempted robbery of an elderly person in December 2022 and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon in January 2023. Collette was taken into custody after detectives found firearms at his residence, violating his parole.
According to police documents, while at the Clark County Detention Center, officers monitoring Collette’s calls heard him ask his father to erase his phone, which he did. Additionally, documents said that detectives found a profile photo on Collette’s Cash App account holding a gun that matched the description of the gun used in the shooting.
Five days later, detectives surveilling an unidentified suspect made a traffic stop and searched his vehicle for weapons, according to police documents. Investigators said they found a 9mm handgun in the vehicle.
Two days later, police received a report of a white sedan that had been abandoned outside a residence on the same day of the shooting. When investigators arrived, they found 9mm casings on the windshield outside the vehicle. The report said the casings matched those on the shooting scene and those in the suspect’s residence.
Investigators were able to find video of the sedan being abandoned and found that the driver was wearing clothes matching a photo of Collette found on a phone. Additionally, text messages indicated that the unidentified suspect was the passenger in the sedan at the time of the shooting, documents said.
Collette faces several charges, including battery with a deadly weapon motivated by bias or hatred, attempted murder, and conspiracy murder. An unidentified 15-year-old was arrested Wednesday and faces two counts of battery using a deadly weapon, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
