Report particulars how suspect in toddler’s slaying grabbed detective’s gun whereas in custody
Subway police
A screenshot of a video by the Metro Police shows the arrest of 27-year-old Terrell Rhodes on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Rhodes is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, Amari Nicholson, who died on May 5 as was reported missing.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 | 21 clock
While the Metro police were in custody, detectives tied the murder suspect to a “secured mounting plate” in an interview room.
About 20 minutes after the man accused of beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son to death was secured at Metro headquarters on May 11, Terrell Tavoris Rhodes attempted to free his hand, telling officers repeatedly : “Let me out of here” and “I can’t go back,” said the police.
The 27-year-old Rhodes then got up in a chair, lunged over a table and reached for a Metro detective’s gun with his free hand. This resulted in a criminal complaint published this week.
In a fight with officers, Rhodes allegedly said, “I’m going to kill a mother (expletive).”
In addition to the number of murders for the death of Amari Nicholson, the Rhodes incident has been raised multiple times for attempted murder, assaulting a protected person with a lethal weapon, and resisting an officer with a weapon.
Rhodes remained on bail at the Clark County Detention Center, where he has been since he allegedly confessed to killing Amari after the boy wet his pants.
This undated photo shows Amari Nichols, a Las Vegas toddler who was reported missing on May 5th. On May 11, Metro Police, which distributed the picture in a missing person flyer, announced the 2-year-old was dead and booked his mother’s boyfriend on a number of the murder cases.
Amari’s body was found on May 12, a week after Rhodes and his friend, the boy’s mother, reported that he had been abducted.
Amari’s mother left him with Rhodes when she traveled out of the state to help her mother after an injury.
On May 5, Rhodes reported that a woman claiming to be the boy’s aunt whom he did not know picked the boy up from her apartment at an extended stay hotel at 3684 Paradise Road.
Metro initially viewed the disappearance as a missing person case, and volunteers rallied to hand out leaflets looking for the toddler while police searched the area “day and night” and knocked on doors.
The probe broke open and Rhodes eventually confessed to punching Amari with his fist closed several times until the boy turned blue and stopped breathing, police said.
After attempting CPR, Rhodes disposed of the boy’s body about 400 feet from the apartment complex, police said.
The Clark County District Attorney told KVVU Channel 5, “The boy’s injuries were quite severe, and all evidence suggests he was beaten to death and then left in a dumpster.”
Less than a year before Amari’s death, the Clark County Department of Child and Family Services investigated an allegation of child neglect in his home, but the child was deemed “safe,” according to agency records.
After officials disarmed Rhodes in the interview room, he reportedly told them, “I want to die” and “kill me”.
Rhodes will appear in court on June 1st.
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