Las Vegas resident Julio Machado Vasquez claims he “accidentally” shot his girlfriend, Selene Perez, in the back of the head before driving around with her dead body for almost two whole hours. Before the news of his girlfriend’s death, Machado Vasquez had gotten into an argument with Perez, claiming that she had grabbed a gun in the car during the fight. Taking the gun from her, he said, “If you’re going to do it, do it right,” before “testing her” with the firearm’s safety, resulting in her death.
“It was an accident,” the Las Vegas criminal pleaded to a friend in a phone call, during which he also requested they “meet him in the desert to help him get rid of her body.” Needless to say, the friend refused and instead opted to call 911 to inform the local police of the situation. According to KLAS 8 News Now, Machado Vasquez drove around for an hour and a half before encountering an LVMPD officer. Driving away from the officer in a panic, the murderer ended up crashing into another car, which led to his eventual arrest.
Machado Vasquez’s friend said that he and Perez were in a “toxic relationship,” indicating that things were already going downhill between the two before the murder occurred. Another disturbing fact was that Machado Vasquez reportedly always carried a gun with him. A commenter on the news’ YouTube report complains that armed individuals in the Nevada city are inclined to make excuses, even for murder: “These Las Vegas people always have an excuse when they own guns.”
Another commenter on a Facebook post following the event says that this is just how Las Vegas is, implying that such a bizarre murder case is normal: “It’s horrible!!! But it is Las Vegas, after all.“
“I think we need a better adjective than ‘toxic’ for this guy,” reads a top comment on the r/LasVegas subreddit. “Murderous? Is the word murderous?” was the top reply, with many users upvoting the response in agreement. Numerous commenters across multiple platforms agree that Machado Vasquez’s whole spiel of saying that “it was an accident” that he shot his girlfriend is entirely absurd. “How do you accidentally shoot someone in the back of the head? A jury isn’t going to buy that.“
