Three arrested in fatal Henderson shooting

Confrontation leaves 20-year-old man dead

A 22-year-old man and two teenage boys face murder charges after a shooting Friday left a 20-year-old man dead, Henderson police said.

Police were called about 11:20 a.m. to reports of a shooting on the 300 block of Bright Sumac Court, near Boulder Highway and Greenway Road, Henderson Police Department Lt. Kirk Moore said Friday. Based on the initial investigation, detectives believe the shooting was narcotics-related, according to a Saturday news release.

A 20-year-old man who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds died at the scene. Two juveniles were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after the shooting and were in critical condition, Moore said Friday.

Henderson police spokesman Rod Pena on Saturday declined to confirm if the two people hospitalized were juveniles, but he said one of the people hospitalized faces a murder charge.

Two juveniles, a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy, were “taken into custody” and face a charge of first-degree murder during a robbery, police said Saturday.

Another person, 22-year-old Joseph DeFrancisco, was involved in the shooting and faces the same charge, police said.

Moore said Friday that police were not searching for any additional suspects.

It was unclear Saturday if the people hospitalized after the shooting had been released, and Pena said he couldn’t release information about their hospitalization.

Pena declined to say, because of the open investigation, who fatally shot the 20-year-old man. Police said additional information will not be released about the teenage boys facing the murder charges.

It was unclear Saturday if prosecutors will charge the boys as adults.

DeFrancisco was booked into the Henderson Detention Center on Friday, and he remained there Saturday evening, jail records show.

On Friday afternoon, Frank Zahrobsky sat near crime scene tape with his head in his hands. He said his 17-year-old son was one of the juveniles who had been shot.

“I’m here to make sure everyone was safe and to find out exactly what happened,” he said. “They didn’t give me information or even say what part of his body was shot.”

Zahrobsky declined to give his son’s name but said he rushed home from work after his mother, who lives nearby, called him and said his son was shot in the neighborhood. At the time, seven of his eight children, whose ages range from 17 to 6, were home.

“You never think this is going to happen to your child in front of your house,” he said.

The Clark County coroner’s office will release the name of the 20-yearold man and his cause and manner of death after his family has been notified.

Joseph DeFrancisco