LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Police say that a man arrested for reportedly firing over 100 gunshots near a Henderson condominium complex was on cocaine, claimed he was being robbed by armed men and jumped from a second-floor residence.
Joseph Ebner, 45, faces 112 counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, two counts of discharging a firearm where a person is endangered and one count of a prohibited person owning or possessing a gun. He was booked into the Henderson Detention Center.
According to an arrest report obtained by FOX5, multiple witnesses heard gunshots at the scene and saw the suspect jump from a second-floor unit. When police arrived, Ebner was reportedly lying on the ground and bleeding from the head.
Witnesses at the scene helped police carry the suspect to paramedics waiting at the entrance to the complex. He was taken to Sunrise Hospital for treatment.
The police then spoke to the witnesses, who confirmed seeing Ebner jump from the building. They said they heard between 20-30 gunshots, possibly more, coming from inside the unit. During a search below the window of the unit, police found a black AR-style rifle, later determined to be an Anderson Manufacturing rifle, lying near a damaged screen window.
Police determined that the weapon had a 30-round capacity magazine, but it was empty and had no live round in the chamber. Police then announced their presence over a PA system and conducted a search of the nearby units.
No individuals were found, but investigators saw numerous bullet holes and impact points across multiple units of the complex.
At the hospital, the suspect told police that he had been robbed by two men and “he had fired his weapons at them in self-defense.” He added that he lived alone in his condominium, though he occasionally had his children over through a 50-50 custody agreement. The children were on a cruise with their mother at the time of the shooting.
Ebner told investigators that he had been “speaking to people online” and that “two males were coming over to his apartment for a possible encounter.” He also admitted to being a cocaine addict, and said he had ingested approximately four grams over the course of the week, with close to one gram of cocaine being ingested earlier in the evening.
He continued by explaining that a group of males who he could not describe had broken into his residence in “an apparent robbery attempt.” Ebner described the suspects as armed, with some having lasers on their weapons.
Ebner said they entered through multiple points of the residence, and fearing that he was being robbed, he pointed his weapon at the door. He said that as soon as the men entered, he emptied his 9 mm handgun, firing all rounds. He said he then transitioned to an AR-15 and fired approximately 60 more rounds.
The suspect told police he “felt like he had been shot,” but he was not suffering from any gunshot wounds. Ebner told investigators that he was “able to escape and ended up outside of his condominium and on the ground.”
Ebner was not able to describe the men, but he told police they were all armed with firearms. He said there were as many as five of them in his residence at once.
“After relaying the above information to on-scene investigators, it was determined that there was no evidence to support the allegations of a robbery incident” occurring at the residence, the report noted.
Investigators at the scene located approximately 112 spent handgun and rifle casings in Ebner’s condominium—93 from the rifle and 19 from the handgun. Ebner has an appearance in Henderson Justice Court scheduled for Tuesday.
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