Las Vegas firearms instructor charged with murder after attempted carjacking

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A firearms instructor is charged with murder in the death of a man who was attempting to steal his car on Super Bowl weekend, court documents said.

Police issued a warrant for Carlos Viana, 34, who is described in police documents as a firearms instructor, in February. He was booked into jail on Monday and posted bail, records said.

According to his warrant, Viana called police around 12:15 p.m. on Feb. 13, to say he had shot a man attempting to steal his car, which was parked outside a central valley warehouse in the 4600 block of South Valley View Boulevard, north of Tropicana Avenue.

The victim, Stanley Marks, 39, was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased, police said. The Clark County coroner’s office said Marks died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Viana had called 911, saying that a person had attempted to steal his car, which had several firearms in it. Viana said he had stopped at the warehouse location to pick up firearms to take to the range where he worked, police said.

Viana told the dispatcher he had left his car and the keys outside as he ran inside the warehouse, documents said. At that point, the victim “tried to take off with his car,” police said.

Inside the truck of the car were three handguns and one fully automatic machine gun, police said.

While speaking with detectives, Viana said the man drove the car at him, prompting him to think, “I needed to do something to stop this guy from proceeding, driving off into the street. And then I will try and stop him,” police wrote.

Viana discharged his weapon about 3-4 feet from the vehicle, police said.

“When Viana discharged his handgun, he was standing on the driver’s side of the vehicle, not in front of the vehicle,” police said. “Viana fired his handgun twice towards the vehicle, hitting the driver’s door window.”

The vehicle then became to slowly roll and Viana opened the door and put the car in park, police said. He then walked into the office and called 911.

When speaking with police, Viana said he did not know if the victim was armed.

Police concluded that Marks was the victim of murder with a deadly weapon.

Viana has a federal firearms license, police said. He was due in court in May.

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