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Family: Man stabbed to death while sleeping by his best friend

Posted at 10:15 AM, Nov 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-21 20:31:29-05
UPDATE: The family of a young man says he was stabbed to death in his sleep by his best friend and housemate. Police say it happened in a home near Washington and Decatur.
 
The family identifies the victim as 20-year-old Kevin Zaldana.
 
The family says Zaldana was sleeping when the suspect, 20-year-old Jacob Driscoll, went into the victim's room and stabbed him five times.
 
Zaldana's cousin, Cristian Mendoza, says Driscoll has been living in the home for a few years now. 
 
Mendoza says Driscoll and Zaldana were best friends.
 
The victim's cousin tells 13 Action News everything was normal Saturday night before the fatal stabbing.
 
"Normal night like nobody ever thought nothing," said Mendoza.
 
Mendoza says after his cousin was stabbed, he dragged himself to his mom's room and yelled that he was dying.
 
Zaldana's mother says she told him to stay strong as she called 911 but it was too late. He died when he got to the hospital.

ORIGINAL STORY:

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A person was stabbed to death early Sunday morning.

The stabbing occurred around 1:36 a.m. Sunday in the 600 block of North Princeton Drive, near Washington Avenue and Decatur Boulevard.

Arriving officers found a man suffering from multiple apparent stab wounds. The victim was transported to the UMC Trauma where he was pronounced deceased a short time later.
 
The investigation indicated two other residents in the home heard an argument and screaming. They located the victim in a hallway of the residence and saw another male roommate, identified as 20-year-old Jacob Driscoll, running from the home.
 
While officers were investigating this initial incident, other officers were dispatched to a residence located nearby to investigate a report of a disturbance.

The caller indicated a man was outside of the home and wanted to come in. The man was not granted access to the home, and was taken into custody without incident by an arriving patrol officer.
 
It was quickly determined the man detained at the disturbance call was Driscoll, who had fled the scene of the homicide on Princeton Street.

As a result of the homicide investigation, Driscoll was arrested and transported to the Clark County Detention Center where he faces one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon.
 
This is the 151st homicide investigated by the LVMPD in 2016. The identity of the victim, as well as the cause and manner of death, will be released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.