Just after he had killed a mother from Utah and another woman inside a Henderson, Nev., apartment, Jason Neo Bourne called 911.
Holding a 12-year-old Utah boy hostage in a car, Bourne rambled about how he sometimes thinks his name is “XM Satellite Radio,” and that he was doing a movie. He wanted police to send a helicopter, he told a dispatcher, because the child with him was scared.
As police rushed to find him, a dispatcher asked Bourne his address.
“I’m not going to hurt you as long as you don’t get your address wrong,” Bourne tells the boy, according to a recording. “If you get your address wrong, I have to kill you.”
Police say Bourne made that call just before he shot the boy Nov. 3. By that time, Nevada police had arrived. Seven officers fired at Bourne. Both the boy and Bourne died.
The audio recording was part of a 17-minute video briefing released by police officials last week that shed new light on the shooting that killed Utahn Diana Hawatmeh and her 12-year-old son, Joseph. Her 16-year-old daughter, Yasmeen, was critically injured. Another woman, Veronica Muniz, was also killed.
Police have not given a motive for the killings, but said Bourne had a “brief interaction” with the victims before he forced his way into the apartment and started firing. Police believe Bourne lived upstairs.
Police said that Bourne and the 12-year-old boy left the apartment after the initial shooting, but the circumstances surrounding their departure were not detailed in the police video. Officers tracked Bourne and the child to a vehicle in a nearby parking lot, where police surrounded his car and tried to get him to roll down his window and talk to them. But police say he instead pointed a gun at the child’s head. Seven officers opened fire on the vehicle in response.
It was not clear from body camera footage who fired first, but police say Bourne fired “multiple rounds” inside the car and the child died because of “injuries inflicted by Bourne.” Bourne was dead when police got to the car. Police say they tried to provide medical aid to the child, but he died from his injuries.
The recently released video also includes the 911 call that first alerted police. A crying woman told dispatchers she heard gunshots in her apartment building, and when she went next door, she found a woman lying in the doorway, bleeding from the head. The woman who called police said she heard someone else inside the apartment calling for help, but wasn’t sure if it was safe to go inside. While she was on the phone, she spotted a third, dead woman in the apartment building.
“Someone is inside, and she’s screaming for help,” the caller said. “There were so many gunshots.”
While officers were searching for a shooter, Bourne called the police and identified himself.
The officers who fired their weapons are on paid administrative leave while the shooting is being investigated, which is standard practice.
The Henderson Police Department would not answer questions from The Salt Lake Tribune, including how many times the child was shot.
An obituary for Diana Hawatmeh says she was a fitness instructor in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. She had three children.
“Diana was a radiant, selfless and faithful member of the community,” reads her obituary. “She loved to dance, entertain and she would do anything for her family and friends whom she loved wholeheartedly and deeply. Her smile and generosity were known to each who had the absolute pleasure of knowing her.”
Joseph Hawatmeh’s obituary says he was a devoted basketball player and a foodie. He was taking high school classes in seventh grade. The obituary says he loved spending time with his cousins and friends and lit up any room with silly jokes and an adorable attitude.
“Diana and Jojo will be unbelievably missed by their families and friends,” reads the obituary. “The mother and son were known to celebrate life and enjoy every moment of it. The two were inseparable, and those who love them find comfort to know their souls rest together.”
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