Henderson on Tuesday approved a $275,000 settlement with the Hawatmeh family over the 2020 shootout that killed 12-year-old Joseph Hawatmeh and ended with Jason Neo Bourne dead in an officer-involved exchange of gunfire.
The city council vote closes one chapter in a case that began on Nov. 3, 2020, near Stephanie Street and Wigwam Parkway, when police say eight Henderson officers fired a combined 28 shots after confronting Bourne during a standoff. Joseph was taken from the apartment by Bourne and brought to an SUV outside, where officers later found the vehicle parked in a lot near the initial crime scene.
The lawsuit was filed by Iehab Hawatmeh and said the confrontation started after Dianne Reem Hawatmeh and her teenage daughter, Yasmeen, returned to their apartment and were confronted by Bourne. The filing said Dianne and Yasmeen had previously complained to the apartment complex about noise from Bourne's apartment before the shooting. It also said Bourne kicked in the door, killed Dianne Hawatmeh and Veronica Muniz, and shot Yasmeen inside the apartment.
In the lawsuit, the family said officers knew Joseph was in the vehicle and repeatedly warned, “watch the kid.” That allegation has been central to the family’s criticism of how police handled the standoff. During a 2023 four-hour fact-finding hearing at the Clark County Government Center, attorney Roger P. Croteau said police “rushed the Cadillac Escalade, instead of de-escalating the situation or engaging in hostage negotiations.”
A police account shared in December 2020 said officers confirmed Bourne was in the driver’s seat and the young male was in the front passenger seat, and asked him several times to lower the driver’s side window so they could communicate. But the lawsuit drew a sharper picture of the minutes before the deadly response, saying, “Dianne immediately parked the Escalade and hurried along with Yasmeen up the stairs to the second floor of Building 13 of the complex, where the Hawatmeh apartment was located. As they climbed the stairs, Dianne and Yasmeen noticed Bourne running after them, causing Dianne and Yasmeen to run to the Hawatmeh Apartment in fear.”
The settlement comes almost six years after Joseph was killed. What it settles is the civil claim over how the city and its officers responded once a child was in the SUV, and whether the police moved too quickly into a gunfight that left Joseph dead alongside Bourne.
