LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The family of a woman shot and killed at the Fashion Show Mall parking garage is now suing the mall.
Clarice Yamaguchi was visiting from Hawaii when she was killed. According to court documents, Yamuchi and her husband Robert were shopping at the mall on Dec. 31, 2021 before planning on flying home that night.
The lawsuit states that the couple parked their car at 1:30 p.m. on the first floor of a parking garage and began walking towards Dillard's. That's when Yamaguchi's lawyers state a silver BMW stopped and a man with a gun got out of the vehicle and attempted to steal Yamaguchi's purse.
Yamaguchi's lawyers stated that Robert tried to fight off the attackers who shot Clarice in the neck. The suit also states he was not allowed to get into the ambulance because police required him to make a statement and that when he did get to the hospital, he was not allowed into his wife's room due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Yamaguchi's lawyers state Robert waited for several hours before a law enforcement officer told him Clarice had passed. She was 66 years old at the time of her death and the couple had been married for 41 years.
Following the shooting, management for the Fashion Show Mall released a statement saying "We want to assure our community that there is a robust security program in place that we constantly review and evaluate."
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According to the lawsuit, Yamaguchi's husband and daughter state the mall should have known it would be busier than normal due to the holidays and that parking garages are "more likely settings for violent attacks on mall patrons than inside the mall."
Jesani Carter, 20, and Jordan Ruby, 18, were identified as the suspects behind that attack. According to the lawsuit, the pair had committed two previous armed robberies at the Wynn Resort parking garage on Dec. 30 and the Sahara parking garage on Dec. 31.
The suit claims officials at the Fashion Show Mall knew about the armed robberies and received a description of the suspects and the vehicle they were driving and also "are in possession of surveillance video recorded in the days prior to the attack showing the silver BMW with temporary license plates canvassing the mall's parking structures in preparation for their attack."
The pair is also accused of shooting and killing a man in the parking garage at Palace Station the same night.
Yamaguchi's attorneys state the mall was negligent and "had no visible security personnel" near the parking garage, no vehicular access controls despite the "defendants' knowledge that merely requiring a driver to take a ticket upon entry and interact with an exit gate before departing the garage would likely have prevented the attack", and there were no signs or graphics stating the garage was being monitored.
According to the lawsuit, Yamaguchi is seeking damages for medical, funeral, and burial expenses as well as pain and suffering and attorneys' fees.
As for Carter and Ruby, a judge denied them bail and the pair are scheduled to be back in court on August 24.
