By: Las Vegas Now Staff
A judge heard evidence against a man accused of shooting a woman waiting at a stoplight. During the preliminary hearing for Calvin Kirklin, his friend Jabriel Fernandez testified that Kirklin wasn't aiming the gun when it went off and hit 39-year-old Blanca Gonzalez.
She was in her SUV with her two children at the intersection of Nellis and Charleston when Kirklin fired the shot through his driver-side window.
Three other adults and Kirklin's infant child were in his car. Fernandez said despite drinking three to four 12-packs of beer that day, they were only buzzed but clear headed at the time of the shooting.
Fernandez contends the shooting was an accident. “The gun went off. I got splattered with glass and then Calvin – he just had this shocked face and he looked back at myself and Bones and asked us why did the gun go off. It didn't go off a second ago when I was doing that. Why'd it go off this time, he said.”
Read the Clark County Homicide Report
In the arrest report, Kirklin told police he was heavily intoxicated the night of the shooting. He says he was handling the gun, when it accidentally went off. But police say he knew he shot someone and still drove off.
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Kirklin's mother said her son broke down in tears when she visited him in jail. “”I do believe that this was a terrible and tragic accident. I can't believe otherwise. My son is not a cold blooded killer – he's not a gang banger or anything like that. It was a terrible tragic accident.”
Kirklin has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle and child endangerment and he will have to face a jury.
“This is sad; this is tragic but if the state has any information or any probable cause to show you that Mr. Kirklin intentionally meant to harm that woman, intentionally meant to harm anybody – it was incumbent upon them to give that today. Frankly, what we discovered today, what we found today is this is a sad and tragic accident,” said Kirklin's attorney.
The victim's 15-year-old son says this arrest doesn't bring back his mom. “Smiling all of the time — fighting. All she wanted was to fight for me and my little sister, that's all she wanted,” said Cristian Basurto.
The next hearing is scheduled for April 30.
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Tragedy YES, Accident NO!
If it was truly an accident, why didn’t you hang around to administer first aid?
Because, you were trying TO GET AWAY:
1. from the scene
2. with murder
A COMMON misconception (which lawyers FEED into) is that guns JUST GO OFF. Another misconception is the belief that triggers require enormous pressure to actually shoot. Guns ONLY go off when the trigger is squeezed. “Trigger Pulls” can vary in different weapons but, ALL do NOT require much pressure. So Calvin, you ask “Why did the gun go off. It didn’t go off a second ago when I was doing that. Why’d it go off this time?â
Simple, Because this time YOU had YOUR FINGER on the trigger and YOU exercised muscles in YOUR (inebriated) HAND which caused the firearm to discharge thus resulting in the murder of an innocent Mother in front of her children. It was ONLY through YOUR CARELESS ACTIONS that a woman lost her life. Granted, you may not have PLANNED her murder (SO drop the premeditation) but, YOU certainly are responsible for her murder. The gun is NOT at fault for YOUR ACTIONS. You, CALVIN, need to be held accountable for YOUR ACTIONS! Quit CRYING accident as if YOU are the victim! I don’t care if your Momma cries that you aren’t a gang banger. Even if (on the REMOTE CHANCE) you WERE an Eagle Scout - NOW, YOU are NOTHING but a MURDERER. A murderer who (cowardly) FLED the scene of a CRIME in an effort “To Get Away”.
On April 30, you will once again TRY TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER!
Comment by Nancy M — April 17, 2008 @ 7:09 am
This trajedy would not have happened if ONLY people did not carry guns and play with them in the first place.
Regardless if you have the right to carry a firearm, I think the purpose you carry a gun is for protection/self-defense.
Owning and/or handling a gun COMES WITH GREAT RESPONSIBILITY. It is a devastating weapon.
Had they not be fooling around with the gun in the first place, all this would not have happened.
I just wish that people would learn from all of this.
LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS! SO DON’T TAKE AWAY SOMEONE’S LOVED ONE…THINK ABOUT IT…
Comment by marla — April 18, 2008 @ 8:22 am