LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas man has been arrested and is facing charges after his ex-wife told police he was stalking her and that he attacked her as well as her new boyfriend.
According to an arrest report, this happened on July 29.
The ex-wife told police that she was married to Diego Sanchez-Rubio from February 2004 until February 2023. The report states she told officers that she divorced him because of "his violent behavior." She said he had been arrested for domestic violence on several occasions but that "his behavior never changed." She told police Sanchez-Rubio never wanted the divorce, had been angry with her ever since, and she is afraid of him because he was getting more and more aggressive.
According to the report, she told investigators that she started seeing her new boyfriend on June 12. On the morning of the incident, she told police that she and her new boyfriend went to the Smith's grocery store at East Sahara Avenue and South Nellis Boulevard to pick up ingredients so they could make breakfast. That's when she said Sanchez-Rubio approached them at a self-checkout lane and started yelling at them and "causing a scene inside the store."
The ex-wife told investigators that she has no idea how Sanchez-Rubio keeps finding her because they aren't on the same phone plan and they don't have a "find my phone" app. She said in the past, he had planted a GPS on their Chevrolet Suburban "to keep tabs on her and know where she was at all times".
After paying for their groceries, she said she and her boyfriend got into the rental car and went home to unload the groceries. The report states she told investigators that she saw Sanchez-Rubio's vehicle coming down the street towards them and they "quickly placed the grocery bags on the ground and got out of the way of the vehicle".
She told police that Sanchez-Rubio got out of the car and as she tried to go inside, he punched her two times in the back of the head and almost knocked her to the ground. Her boyfriend tried to protect her from being hit again when she told police that Sanchez-Rubio punched him in the face. When she grabbed her phone and started calling 911, she said Sanchez-Rubio got in his vehicle and drove away.
Later that day, the woman said she noticed a chip in the windshield of the rental car and she wanted to go to the rental car agency to see what she needed to do. She and her boyfriend arrived at the Hertz location at 2:55 p.m. but the store had closed at noon. Instead, she said she wanted to look for a car wash near their location. She told police when she looked in the rearview mirror, she saw Sanchez-Rubio pulling up behind the vehicle.
According to the report, Sanchez-Rubio started banging the driver's window and front windshield and the woman said he demanded that she get out of the vehicle. She told police she started recording what he was doing and called 911. That's when Sanchez-Rubio went back to his vehicle and pulled out a handgun. She told police he raised it several times and she thought he was going to shoot so she drove away. However, she said he started following them.
Eventually, she had to stop due to a red light at Lone Mountain Road and Rancho Drive. When Sanchez-Rubio pulled up next to her vehicle, she told police he rolled down his window and fired a shot at the front passenger door where her boyfriend was sitting. She said she was still on the phone with 911 who directed her to drive towards the Northwest Area Command and officers would meet her along the way. However, en route to the police station Sanchez-Rubio stopped following her.
Police said that due to his violent past, they put out a "Hot-Hit" on his license plate, which was spotted by one of LVMPD's license plate readers. Sanchez-Rubio was pulled over near Eastern Avenue and Desert Inn Road and he was taken into custody.
During an interview with police, Sanchez-Rubio said his kids, who are 16 and 13, told him their mother uses illegal drugs, doesn't have enough food around the house, and he doesn't approve of her dating other men because "it takes her attention away from her children."
When police asked about the incident at the grocery store, the report states Sanchez-Rubio originally lied and said nothing was physical. However, when police said there was evidence against him, he "admitted he did put both of his hands on [them]" and that he shoved them because he was so angry.
He said he "ran into them" again at Hertz because he had seen some paperwork regarding the rental car. Police told him that didn't make sense and it sounded like a lie. That's when Sanchez-Rubio allegedly told police that he placed a tracker on her rental car under the driver's rear tire because "there was a magnet there."
According to the report, police asked Sanchez-Rubio about what happened when they were stopped at the red light. He said the gun "fired itself" at the vehicle. The police report states officers "told him that was impossible because guns do not shoot themselves. Someone has to pull the trigger." Then he reportedly changed his statement and said it was an accident.
Sanchez-Rubio is facing multiple charges including attempted murder, domestic violence, assault, discharging a gun at a vehicle, and domestic battery.
