By Kelsey Givens
One man is in jail for attempted murder after he allegedly shot his daughter’s boyfriend twice outside of a residence on Camelot Court Wednesday evening.
Randall Phelps, 68, of Pahrump was taken into police custody after Nye County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a property at 6531 S. Camelot Ct., around 5 p.m. for a report of a person who had been shot.
According to a declaration of arrest in the case, Phelps called 911 to tell police he had just shot 35-year-old Benjamin Appleby after he said the man had been fighting with his daughter and had “threatened him.” He said he had fired a warning shot at Appleby first, then actually shot the man.
As dispatchers attempted to get more information from Phelps about the shooting, he reportedly kept hanging up on them.
When deputies arrived at the residence they reportedly discovered Appleby lying in the driveway, bleeding and non-responsive, suffering from two gunshot wounds, one to his right temple and the other to his abdomen.
Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue Services were quickly called in to treat Appleby and he was subsequently flown from the area to the trauma center at University Medical Center for further treatment.
During an interview with Phelps’ daughter, Clytee Phelps, the woman told police she and her boyfriend had gotten into a domestic dispute earlier in the day over a phone call she received from another man. She said that Appleby had beaten her up and as she ran across the street she heard several gunshots go off. When she came back to see what had happened, she reportedly told police Randall was holding the gun and Appleby was laying on the ground bleeding.
The woman further told police she had been very upset with her father previously for not stopping Appleby from hurting her the last time they got into a fight, and that Randall had promised her he would “take care” of the next person who put his hands on her.
After deputies were finished interviewing the daughter, they began to question Randall, who allegedly told police the whole thing began when he had come home that day to see Appleby was in the residence and it appeared his daughter had been beaten up.
Randall told the officers that his daughter and Appleby regularly have domestic issues and said after speaking with the daughter he had left her residence to go back to his trailer.
While he was there, Randall said he heard what appeared to be arguing, so he grabbed his pistol and went up to the other trailer to see what was going on.
Randall said Appleby then began to threaten him, saying he was going to “beat him ’till he was dead.”
At that time Randall said he fired a warning shot at Appleby, and when the other man kept coming at him, he said he “raised the gun up and started shooting.”
When asked why he hadn’t called 911 first, Randall said he didn’t have time.
When officers finished interviewing him, a second ambulance was called to take Randall to the local hospital to be treated for minor injuries sustained in his altercation with Appleby.
As deputies searched the property, they noted inside one of the residences it appeared there had been an earlier struggle.
Outside on the driveway where Appleby was found, officers reportedly located four shell casings and an intact round spaced out over several feet. They also discovered several small blood drop stains leading to a larger pool of blood consistent with where Appleby had been laying prior to being taken to the hospital.
Randall was later arrested on charges of attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm.
He was booked into the Nye County Detention Center where he remains in custody in lieu of $50,000.
Jim Williamson, a neighbor who lives near the residence where the shooting took place, said although he doesn’t know the Phelps personally, he has seen them around and heard them out and about on their property before.
Williamson said on Wednesday he heard four or five gunshots go off, but hadn’t heard any yelling or arguing around the time of the shooting.
“We were walking out in the yard and we heard what sounded like gunshots and we thought they were shooting into the bushes,” he said. “We have heard them shoot before out here, so we really didn’t pay much attention to it because we thought it was just fake gunshots, but apparently he had shot somebody.”
Appleby was still listed in critical condition at UMC as of Thursday afternoon.
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- Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – Sheriff’s deputies watch a woman who awaits questioning after her father shot her boyfriend. Randall Phelps was arrested for shooting Benjamin Appleby on Wednesday.
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- Randall Phelps
Let me see if I understand the thinking here. I’ve got a violent person threatening to “beat you ’till you’re dead” and I’m supposed to say, “Hold on, I’m going to call 911 first, then you can beat me for ten minutes while I wait for someone to show up.” No, on second thought, I don’t feel like dying today.
If what is said is true he should not be in jail for this. Now if Clytee would just stay away from these abusive men her father wouldn’t being this position. This woman has been in the middle of more trouble that I can recall.
I agree with the above poster. If someone is threatening you then sorry I am shooting first and calling last. I assume they want to know why he didn’t call 911 initially after discovering she was beaten. It sounds to me like it all happened within a matter of minutes and he didn’t have time to pick up a phone. Given the choice I will pick up one of my guns before the phone when someone is coming at me, common sense!
Guys,Guys,Guys! lol!
BUT OF COURSE this DA’s circus/office will waste tons of taxpayers time and money to appear as if they actually work for a living…..Only to have another worthless case thrown out. Where do you think we live anyway?
HaHaHaHa!
Since when did we lose our right to self defense in Pahrump, guess they could not get our guns so they now get to throw anyone in jail who shoots in self defense?
If I have someone about to beat me to death, I am not going to call a “time out” and dial 911 if the threat is eminent. Now granted, we don’t know all the facts here, but this story is starting to sound very very unfair.
Firing a warning shot is not the safest thing to do, because you never know where that bullet is going, but if someone DOES fire and the person keeps coming, I would be under the impression that I would be within my rights to shoot.
From reading this, it sounds like the father was within his rights to shoot in self defense, especially since the man in question had just beat up his daughter.
Anyone that beats up on my daughter will get what he deserves and I’m not calling 911. He will just disappear.
William,
I agree with you. I think the lesson here is that in addition to a gun you must also own a shovel .
he didn’t have time to call 911? you hear the voices, you pick up the phone, you call 911 WHILE walking over to see what’s going on. better yet? you call 911 during/after the daughter was beaten up the 1st time & we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Domestic violence doesn’t happen like that. Things go from “what’s that” to “I’ll kill you” in a split second. Also if you are a father, your first instinct is protection of your children, your 2nd instinct is self-preservation and the last you think is “what’s some DA going to think about this.”
I’m sure there is more to this story, however it does bother me that the local police are so eager to arrest someone in this situation. Does anyone know of the fathers background?
When my uncle shot his daughters abuser, at least the s.o.b. was smart enough to tell the police that he ‘accidentally’ shot himself….
Call 911 that is a joke, they will show up 3 hours later or not at all and i can say that from experience. We were followed home by a drunk in a white van. My daughter, her baby and me were trapped in her house while he wandered around. I called 911 and was so scared they said dont leave the house till the officer got there. The man after 40 minutes left when we were calling friends and family to help us and they showed up. Guess what Pahrump PD never showed up. He could have killed us and not one cop showed up for the call. I will call a friend before calling the cops. 911 is worthless.
Based on the statements made in this article it’s apparent there needed to be a further investigation and not a premature arrest. Self-defense and the defense of our family & property is everyone’s right and the day we give up that right, we no longer live in a country with freedom and common sense.
The shooter was a senior citizen, and according to his testimony in the article, he was being threatenedd to be beaten to death by this younger man. A man who has a known history of violent assault. I don’t know if we have a ‘stand your ground’ law in Nevada or what the s statutes read, but I would hate to think he was supposed to sit their with an advancing–aggressive man and not defend himself. I guess we will find out after this goes through the legal process.
I am an old man and will not, repeat, will not take a beating from anyone. I will shoot first then call any authorities.
In my lifetime I have either witnessed, been involved in, or had intimate knowledge of incidents and situations that were covered my tv news and newspaper stories. Invariably the “facts” are way off base or unrecognizable as being about the same incident. The above article upon closer investigation appears to be the latter. This does not appear to be a case of self defense or defense of family. Phelps confronted Appleby from a distance away with a gun in hand and started shooting. After being shot in abdomen and falling to the ground, Phelps walked up, stood over him and shot him point blank in side of the head. This scenario is consistent with the physical evidence; location of spent casing and blood evidence on the ground.
Another glaring misrepresentation was the picture of Phelps with a swollen eye and bandaged head. The article stated that he also had to be transported to hospital, leaving the reader to believe he had been assaulted by Appleby. In fact, Phelps injuries were inflicted by sheriffs deputies when Phelps resisted arrest and had to be subdued.
At least one witness statement also corresponds with evidence at the scene. It was a ‘cold-blooded execution’ attempt.
If thats the case, then yes, the shooter should be arrested. If you shoot someone and they are down you dont go try to execute them. What I find odd is why none of this info is in this story.
All we really know is the shooters side of the story. The soon to be dead guy isn’t talking. What I do know is that if someone points a gun at me, I would be running in the other direction.
I find it odd that two days before this story ran, the sheriffs office made a short statement that ‘This is NOT a case of self-defense or defense of another’, and yet the writer of above article makes no mention of this. Nor does it appear that he made any attempt to gather any other facts. A reporter has information resources and access to law enforcement officials.
Phelps states that upon arriving home he observed injuries on Clytee. There were extensive but minor injuries, road rash, scraped elbows, arms and hands, on both Clytee and Appleby, which were caused by a moped accident they had only moments before the shooting. Investigators state these in are consistent with a moped accident. Why didnt Phelps call 911 at that point when he returned to his trailer?
I think you should read the PVT’s latest editorial. The Sheriff’s department does NOT cooperate with the PVT.