Woman Tries to Kill Date Who Only Brought $5 to Casino Restaurant

Posted on: January 16, 2021, 11:31h. 

Last updated on: January 16, 2021, 06:40h.

Larry Henry Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

A North Las Vegas woman angry that her friend only brought $5 to a date at a local casino restaurant is due in court this month, authorities said. She is accused of trying to burn down his apartment and kill him.

Kimberly Marika Johnson
Kimberly Johnson is seen here in a police photograph. Also seen is Jerry’s Nugget Casino. An argument in the casino led to what authorities say was an attempted murder. (Image: Daily Mail)

Kimberly Marika Johnson, 43, is scheduled to appear in North Las Vegas Justice Court on Jan. 25 for a preliminary hearing. She is charged with attempted first-degree murder and arson. A criminal complaint in the Oct. 11 incident was initially filed last month, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Johnson was booked into jail on Tuesday.

Johnson is accused of trying to kill a man who only had $5 on him during a date at a diner inside Jerry’s Nugget Casino, according to a fire investigator’s affidavit. Jerry’s Nugget is about a mile north of downtown Las Vegas. It opened in the 1960s.

Johnson met with her friend at the casino restaurant in the morning.

During the course of the meal, it was learned that he only had five dollars on him,” according to the affidavit. “An argument ensued.”

Johnson made the unidentified man walk home to his apartment about two and a half miles from the casino. The address of the apartment complex is blacked out in an arrest report from the North Las Vegas Justice Court, according to the newspaper. The building where the victim lives is in a “two-story, multi-family apartment complex,” the report states.

‘She Tried To Burn Me Down’

Johnson showed up about 20 minutes after the man got home. The victim told investigators Johnson was “high on crystal meth,” the newspaper reported.

Around 5:30 am, the man heard “a splashing sound on the window and front door,” according to the investigator. The victim opened the front door “just as Kimberly ignited the gas vapors.” 

The front door and door mat were “engulfed in flames,” the report states. The man then “slammed the burning front door shut.”

“Kimberly then took a wooden-handled hammer and started breaking out the front window of the bottom-floor apartment,” the report states.

Johnson threw her purse “through the window into the front room of the apartment.” Her purse was on fire when she threw it. The victim told investigators, “She tried to burn me down.” 

According to an investigator, the fire was set with “willful and malicious intent.”

Other Recent Arrests

There was no indication which restaurant in the casino was the setting for the argument. The casino website notes that a coffee shop, snack bar, and bakery are on the property. 

The 24-hour coffee shop is called Jerry Famous Coffee Shop. Among the breakfast items on the menu are a short stack of two pancakes for $4.89 and an English muffin for $1.49, according to the website.

The incident in North Las Vegas is the second in that general area in recent months to pop up in news stories. In December, police arrested a transient in a knife attack in the downtown Las Vegas casino district. The suspect later was accused of killing his cellmate at the Clark County Detention Center.

Police in recent months have stepped up their patrols in tourist areas downtown and on the Las Vegas Strip. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has released a report showing more than 1,200 arrests in an anti-crime effort last year in the tourist areas.