GTA-style carjacking spree that killed three is caught on camera
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A crazed gunman stole a police cruiser and three cars and killed his mother and a random motorist as he led cops on a rampage through Las Vegas.

During a harrowing half-hour period on December 27, 2023, Justin Davidson, aged 36, was finally subdued by police who fired a total of 63 shots at him before managing to stop him.

He died in the driver’s seat of a van he carjacked from Gerardo ‘Jerry’ Lopez-Martinez, 39, shooting the father-of-seven dead and dumping his body.

The horrifying rampage drew comparisons to video game Grand Theft Auto, where players steal and carjack vehicles and flee police.

Details were revealed in a Clark County police fatality fact-finding review on Monday that examined the case and cleared the officers involved.

The chaos unfolded when Davidson, armed with a stolen Sig Sauer AR 308 rifle, Zastava ZPA92 rifle, and Glock 47 pistol, opened fire in the desert behind his family’s residence.

The gunshots awakened his mother Liza Leveille-Davidson, 58, and father Jeffrey Davidson, 63, and they went outside to investigate.

The couple drove into the desert looking for their son and got out of the car, and were fired upon as they walked.

Leveille-Davidson was shot dead but her husband managed to flee back to the car and escape uninjured, bullets hitting his car as he drove away.

Police arrived at 3.52am, six minutes after neighbors called about the gunshots, and Davidson turned to fire at them at least two-dozen times.

Officers reported seeing rounds whizz over their heads as volleys of automatic gunfire echoed through the desert.

After gunfire exchanged between Davidson and the officers, with law enforcers seeking refuge behind a patrol car, Davidson proceeded to fire at and shatter the window of another police vehicle before making a rapid escape.

Officers pursued him at up to 104mph until he pulled into a petrol station behind a blue Ford Raptor just after a man got out to fill the tank at 4.17am.

The man told police he initially though Davidson, who was wearing a military vest and carrying a rifle, was a cop so he put his hands up.

‘That’s not a cop!’ the victim’s father yelled in a panic as Davidson approached.

Davidson held him and three passengers at gunpoint, then grabbed the driver by the collar and yelled ‘get out of the car’.

He stole the Raptor and sped away, hitting a pole and a garbage bin, as shown in CCTV footage screened at the review.

Likely realizing the car was low on fuel, he stopped at another gas station and carjacked a red Chevy Traverse SUV from a man and his wife – but police were on him right away.

Video from the petrol station and police bodycam showed officers yell at him to get out of the car and firing at him before he again sped away.

One of the bullets was believed to have hit Davidson, as blood was found in the car when police recovered it.

Police continued their pursuit and watched as Davidson did a U-turn on the road behind Lopez’s white Nissan van, as it pulled over.

Bodycams filmed Davidson get out of the Traverse and shoot Lopez through the passenger side window, then run around to the other side and blow open the window.

‘He’s got a rifle. He’s got a rifle,’ one of the cops yelled in bodycam footage, before another shouted, ‘He shot him. Driver down. He killed the driver.’

He pulled Lopez out of the van and dumped him on the side of the road, then sped away along the highway.

‘The guy just walked up shot my husband and threw him out of the vehicle ran him over and took our vehicle,’ Lopez’s wife Karen said days after his murder.

Three state troopers and a Las Vegas policeman fired at Davidson as he drove away, and three continued their pursuit as the fourth ran to Lopez.

Two minutes after he took off, at 4.25am, Davidson stopped the van and was found dead inside from multiple gunshot wounds.

The Clark County District Attorney’s Office determined all five cops – three Nevada state troopers and two LVMPD officers – acted correctly and no prosecution was warranted for killing Davidson.

Clark County’s review on Monday came to the same conclusion.

A search of the desert near Davidson’s home found ammunition magazines of various calibers and a disturbing page from a notebook.

The paper had a detailed diagram on how Davidson planned to ambush police, which he was practicing for as he fired into the desert.

‘Practice near ambush putting accurate fire on target walking down firing [unreadable] using cover and concealment to punch through,’ some of the writing read.

Police also found trail cameras, bulletproof vests, tactical helmets, more guns, components to make silencers, and electronic devices inside his home.

Davidson was also studying military manuals and documents detailing police response to mass shootings.

The shocking findings led police to believe they had inadvertently foiled a mass shooting that Davidson was planning.

Davidson had a long criminal history dating back to 2009, and was jailed for 57 months in California from 2012. 

Lopez, whose children ranged in age between 3 and 11, was recently promoted and celebrated his 13th year of being an American citizen.

Karen Lopez said she went to look for her husband when he never showed up at work and was told by officers that the van her husband was driving was involved.

She said that her and her husband fostered eight of their children through the Clark County foster care system, and loved being a dad.

‘He’d just come (home from work), throw his stuff down, not even change and just jump into the chaos of our day, roll around the floor, play with the kids,’ she told Fox.

‘All the kids would always scream, ‘Daddy’s home!’ as soon as they heard the garage go up.’

She said when she had to share the heartbreaking news that daddy was gone she said their oldest child, who is 11, just ‘kept texting’ her husband’s phone. 

He said, ‘Mommy, I know he’s not going to answer, but I just want — hopefully he can still read them and I want him to know that I love him.’ 

And he said, ‘I guess now I’m going to have to be a father for all of the babies,’ ‘ Karen said. 

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