The August violence also killed Nichole Drummond’s teenage daughter and wounded an officer who entered the burning, smoke-filled home.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A woman who called 911 as her boyfriend pursued her with a blowtorch and later shot her has died from injuries suffered during the August attack, turning an already deadly Las Vegas domestic violence case into a double homicide, authorities said.

Nichole Drummond, 47, died after spending weeks hospitalized following the Aug. 10 violence at a home in the 4500 block of Pigeon Point Court. The Clark County coroner determined that Drummond died from the consequences of thermal injuries and ruled her death a homicide, according to an update from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Police said Jason Simmons, 48, burned and shot Drummond before an armed confrontation with responding officers. Drummond’s teenage daughter, identified by relatives as 14-year-old Aven Drummond, was also fatally shot inside the home. Simmons was later found dead with what police described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The updated finding changes the scope of an incident that initially ended with two people dead, Drummond critically injured and a police officer wounded. When police first described the scene, Drummond was still alive in a hospital. Authorities have since said her injuries proved fatal. The police department’s account says Drummond was burned and shot by Simmons before the officer-involved shooting occurred. Her death was announced after the coroner completed its examination, providing a more complete picture of the toll from a confrontation that began as an emergency call from inside the home.

The call reached police communications at about 12:29 a.m. Aug. 10. Drummond reported that Simmons, her boyfriend, had a blowtorch and was attempting to burn her, police said. As officers headed toward Pigeon Point Court, the information became more urgent. Drummond told dispatchers that she had been shot and had taken shelter in a bathroom. She also told authorities that her teenage daughter remained elsewhere in the residence. Police said Simmons was using gasoline and the blowtorch to start fires inside the house while Drummond remained in contact with emergency dispatchers.

Officers arriving at the southwest Las Vegas home did not wait for the situation to become a conventional barricade response. Police said they formed an entry team because people remained inside and went into the residence. Small fires were burning and smoke was spreading through the house. In a front bedroom, officers found a teenage girl suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Later clarification from the Metropolitan Police Department established that the girl had been shot before officers entered the residence, resolving an important question raised in the first accounts of the chaotic encounter.

Police continued through the house while searching for Simmons and eventually reached a locked master bedroom door. Officer Zaira Venegas-Hernandez attempted to force the door open, authorities said. Simmons then fired several rounds through the closed door, striking the officer. Venegas-Hernandez returned fire before officers withdrew from the residence. Police said the bullet that hit her was stopped by her ballistic vest, although the impact injured her upper chest. She was taken to University Medical Center. The shooting prompted police to change their response and formally treat the situation as a barricade.

SWAT officers and crisis negotiators were called to the home as the confrontation continued. Drummond remained in communication with authorities and at one point reported that Simmons had shot himself, police said. She eventually made it out of the residence and was taken to a hospital with burn injuries and a gunshot wound. At the time of the initial police briefing, authorities described her condition as critical. Her ability to communicate with dispatchers during the emergency gave responding officers information about the armed suspect, the fires and her daughter’s presence inside.

When SWAT officers went back into the residence, they removed the wounded teenager so medical personnel could try to save her, police said. She was pronounced dead despite those efforts. Simmons was also found unresponsive with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The Clark County coroner subsequently identified him as Jason Alan Simmons and determined that he died by suicide. Police said investigators recovered firearms and a blowtorch as they processed the home after the emergency ended.

Relatives publicly identified the teenage victim as Aven Drummond. Her sister, Nevaeh Thomas, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Aven was a high school sophomore who played volleyball, participated in extracurricular activities and performed well academically. She was killed shortly before her 15th birthday. The family’s account placed the loss beyond the initial police description of an unidentified juvenile victim and provided a picture of a student whose school year and birthday plans were approaching when the violence occurred.

The family also told the Review-Journal that the attack was not preceded by an obvious history of police responses at the residence. Metropolitan Police Department officials said there had been no prior calls for service to the home. That information does not establish what may have happened privately before Aug. 10, and authorities have not publicly described a motive for the attack. Police have focused their public account on the sequence reported during the 911 call, the conditions officers encountered when they entered and the gunfire that followed.

Assistant Sheriff Fred Haas said after the incident that Simmons would have faced multiple serious charges had he survived. Because Simmons died at the scene, there will be no criminal prosecution in which those allegations could be tested in court. The later homicide ruling in Nichole Drummond’s death is a medical and legal determination concerning the manner of her death; it does not create a criminal case against a deceased suspect. Police have nevertheless identified Simmons as the person who burned and shot Drummond before the exchange of gunfire with officers.

The case also remains subject to the Metropolitan Police Department’s separate review of the police use of force. Department records list the Aug. 10 confrontation as its 10th officer-involved shooting of 2026. The agency says its Critical Incident Review Team examines policy, tactics and training associated with such uses of force. The department’s public transparency page continued to list the district attorney’s decision letter and its Force Investigation Team report as pending when checked. Those reviews concern the officers’ actions during the confrontation and are separate from the coroner’s homicide finding in Drummond’s death.

The chronology established since the first reports is significant because the scene initially contained several overlapping events: an alleged domestic attack, fires inside the house, two wounded residents, a barricaded armed man and an exchange of gunfire with police. Later information established that Aven had already been shot before officers entered. Authorities also determined that Simmons died from his own gunshot wound, while Nichole Drummond survived long enough to leave the house and receive hospital treatment before dying later from her injuries. Those findings narrowed some of the uncertainties that existed immediately after the standoff.

Other questions remain less fully explained in the public record, including what led to the violence that night. Police have not announced a motive, and no trial will occur because Simmons is dead. The department’s latest update identifies Nichole Drummond’s death as a homicide and says Simmons burned and shot her before the police shooting. The administrative and force investigations connected to the officers’ response remained listed as pending, leaving those reviews as the principal official next steps in the case.

Author note: Last updated Sept. 28, 2026.