LAS VEGAS, NV – A 19-year-old from Nevada has confessed to the murder of a man he shot in the back of the head, driven by what he described to police as a pressing urge to kill.

Joshua Martinez faces a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detailed that Martinez allegedly harbored homicidal thoughts leading up to the incident.

The early morning shooting occurred on February 17 outside a Walgreens on North Durango Drive in Las Vegas’s Coral Bay neighborhood. At approximately 2:45 a.m., emergency services received a distress call about a man needing assistance.

The caller suggested the man might be suicidal, claiming he had taken numerous pills, which led to the involvement of the police. Officers arrived to find the victim wrapped in a sheet, showing no vital signs, with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Despite efforts to revive him, the man was declared dead at the scene.

A local resident reported that the sound of gunshots woke him around 3 a.m. and identified Martinez as the shooter. Authorities swiftly arrested Martinez at his residence, where they recovered two handguns.

During police questioning, Martinez allegedly confessed to having recurring violent thoughts, which worsened after consuming alcohol. He reportedly attempted to take money from his parents using a stolen debit card without success.

Martinez recounted that while at a nearby ATM, he grew paranoid about a group of men he imagined were following him. Returning home, he armed himself with two guns and walked back towards the bank area.

Martinez encountered a man in a white hoodie and inquired whether he had seen others around. After an initial exchange, the man asked to use Martinez’s phone to reach a hospital.

Although Martinez offered to accompany him to a nearby medical facility, the man declined, preferring another location. The two then settled on the steps outside the store, where their conversation turned dark.

Martinez allegedly voiced his desire to commit murder to the stranger, who, in return, admitted to similar feelings and revealed having set someone on fire. This instigation, as per Martinez’s police statement, was the trigger that led him to decide to kill.

Martinez claimed to have stood up, feigned an intention to buy alcohol, shot the man, and then fled home. He currently remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center without the option for bail, pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 4.