A 17-year-old girl who allegedly shot and killed a man she met online in a Las Vegas hotel room and then fled with his wallet and car contends the death was an accident.
Authorities say Emma Kusak murdered 36-year-old Charlie Satrustegui in the early morning hours of June 29 on the Vegas Strip, KVVU reports.
Satrustegui had traveled to Sin City from California, but for two months prior, he and Kusak had been texting. They met on Bumble, the dating app where female users initiate communication with matches.
The teen was 17 at the time of the shooting but has since turned 18, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Kusak allegedly told police that she and Satrustegui drank eight shots of vodka in his hotel room the day before the deadly incident. Satrustegui also showed the girl his handgun and said he enjoyed hunting, according to a police report obtained by Fox News.
The teen told investigators that they went to bed around 1 a.m., but that Satrustegui woke her around 3 a.m. complaining that she was coughing too much. She then said she went to the bathroom and began to cry because she didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Satrustegui reportedly allowed the teen to return to the room, and they went back to bed.
What happened next is not known publicly because police blacked out parts of the police report. However, at some point, Kusak said she “got clothed” and returned to the bathroom to cry. She also reached out to a friend.
The teen told police that she and Satrustegui argued and “she thought he was going to attack her,” so she took hold of his handgun and shot him, the police report states.
Around 8 a.m., Kusak called police and told an operator that she “shot and killed someone inside the Luxor Hotel & Casino” before fleeing, according to the police report. Officers responded to a room on the 12th floor of the hotel and found Satrustegui’s deceased body with two gunshot wounds to his head, the Review-Journal reports.
Kusak turned herself in to police, telling them “I didn’t mean to do it,” according to Fox News.
She later changed her account of what happened, alleging that Satrustegui had wanted her to leave the hotel room, so she grabbed his gun and told him to give her “his s***,” according to the police report.
In this version of the story, Kusak said Satrustegui “lunged for the gun” and that she “impulsively shot him,” the police report states. She then grabbed his car keys, wallet, and multiple phones and took off in his vehicle. She allegedly dumped the gun at an undisclosed location.
Kusak is charged with open murder, robbery and grand theft of a motor vehicle. On Monday, a judge denied her bail. Her next court date is scheduled for August 21.
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[Featured image: Emma Kusak/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]
