By: Las Vegas Now Staff
A Henderson man was reunited with his children three days after his wife was killed in a confrontation with police. Our cameras were there as Zyber Selimaj's children walked out of Child Haven with him.
It's a sad case all around. On Tuesday, Henderson police stopped Zyber Selimaj in his ice cream truck for running a stop sign. Officers called his wife. They ended up shooting and killing her. He was arrested.
Friday, part of the family was reunited when a family court judge allowed Selimaj's three sons to go home with him.
If there is any joy in this sad story, it's that a family court judge reunited Zyber Selimaj and his three sons. The youngest and oldest saw Henderson police shoot and kill their mother. Eyewitness News talked to Selimaj through a translator.
“It kind of ruined my life. My family's life, but we are going to try and hang on and move on,” said Selimaj.
He moved to the United States from Albania two years before his marriage to Deshira 15 years ago. Friends of the family say he spoke out against communism in his youth and left Soviet controlled Albania to be free.
Henderson police stopped Selimaj for running a stop sign. Still angry about a seat belt violation 30 minutes earlier, Selimaj says he refused to sign the second ticket. Selimaj told Eyewitness News Friday the officer became angry and called Selimaj's wife.
But a police statement says they called the woman because of a language barrier. Henderson police say when Deshira arrived with two of their kids, she became angry, pulled out a knife, and held it to the throat of one of them.
Henderson police moved the child, used a Taser with no effect, then shot her.
Fisnik Bojku paid Selimaj's bail. “The officer was young, maybe this was an accidental squeeze,” he said, adding that he thinks Henderson police are covering up the facts of what happened.
“Oh no. There was no knife. Even the witnesses have come forward and said there was no knife,” said Bojku.
Nothing can be taken back. In the end, Selimaj says he will go on. “This all happened,” he says, “but I have to be strong for me and my kids.”
A fund is being set up to help the children.
Zyber Selimaj was charged with obstructing police and got the two traffic tickets. The officer involved in the shooting has been identified as 23-year-old Luke Morrison. He has been a Henderson police officer for two years.
Eyewitness News spoke to Henderson police Friday; they say they stand by their version of the events.
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