A woman and a toddler were waiting near a traffic stop when gunfire erupted just around the corner.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Danaijha Robinson and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner were sitting in a parked car near a police traffic stop when a gunman walked up and opened fire, according to investigators, turning a routine moment on a south valley street into a double homicide.
What makes the case stand out is not only who died, but how random police say the attack was. Officers were already in the area on March 2, stopping another car near Starr Avenue and Interstate 15, when they heard gunshots and rushed toward the sound. By the time they reached the blue Hyundai on Victoria Medici Street, Robinson and the toddler had been shot. The suspect, later identified as Ziaire Ham, was arrested the next day in Utah. Court records described him as saying he believed the car did not belong there and fired nine shots after the occupant did not get out.
The known sequence begins with a small group of vehicles moving together through the south valley, according to local television reporting that cited sources and court documents. One of the cars, a gray Dodge Charger, was pulled over by police for traffic violations. The blue Hyundai carrying Robinson and Nhalani parked nearby, around the corner from that stop. Reports said the toddler’s mother and another woman got out of the Hyundai to assist or speak with the friend involved in the stop, leaving Robinson and the child inside. That left the car occupied but largely still, not moving through traffic and not apparently involved in any confrontation. Within minutes, shots rang out. Officers conducting the stop heard the gunfire, moved toward Victoria Medici Street and found the Hyundai with bullet damage and the two victims inside.
Police later identified Robinson as 20 and Nhalani as 1, though one local report based on court records described the child as 18 months old. The Clark County coroner ruled both deaths homicides. Robinson was pronounced dead at 9:46 p.m., according to one television report on the complaint, and the child was pronounced dead at 10:01 p.m. Local coverage said Robinson was the toddler’s aunt, citing a source close to the family. Fundraising pages and obituaries added more personal detail, describing Robinson as kind, funny and deeply loved. But investigators have not publicly identified any relationship between the victims and the suspect, and the record described so far points in the other direction: police say the car was selected because Ham believed it was out of place, not because he knew who was inside.
That allegation reshaped the case from a neighborhood shooting into what appeared to be a fatal misidentification. According to the criminal complaint summarized by local outlets, Ham told detectives he had driven from Phoenix in a stolen black Mazda SUV and stopped at his mother’s house in Las Vegas. There, police say, he argued with relatives and pulled a gun on his mother’s boyfriend before leaving. He later told detectives he felt he was being followed by people with gang ties and drove into a residential area because strangers would stand out there. He said he saw a gray car and a blue car. After waiting about 20 minutes, he approached the blue Hyundai and, in his account, saw one person in the driver’s seat. Then, investigators say, he fired. Surveillance video, according to police, captured the gunfire and showed shots fired at both the side and front of the vehicle.
The arrest added another layer to the story because it came far from the Las Vegas neighborhood where the killings happened. Ogden police said an automated plate reader detected the stolen SUV on March 3 and officers tried to stop it. The driver fled, but the vehicle was later found in Roy, Utah, and Ham was arrested. Utah authorities booked him on charges tied to the vehicle pursuit and the stolen SUV. Las Vegas police then publicly identified him as the homicide suspect and said he would be extradited to face an open murder charge with the use of a deadly weapon. Ogden police also said they were searching for a handgun believed to have been discarded between Ogden and Roy, asking residents with cameras to check footage and report possible evidence.
The account investigators say Ham gave detectives became one of the most striking parts of the case. In local reports on the complaint, he was quoted saying, “That’s when I lit up the car,” and later becoming hysterical after learning a child had been inside. Police said he told detectives he did not mean to kill anyone. That statement may become important later in court, but it does not alter the current posture of the case. The deaths have been classified as homicides, the suspect has been identified and Las Vegas police have said he will be brought back to Nevada. What remains unresolved publicly is whether detectives found evidence supporting Ham’s claims that he was being followed and what, if anything, connected him to the people near the traffic stop.
For now, the case rests on a short chain of events that investigators have described in unusually stark terms: a parked car, a mistaken belief, a burst of gunfire and two people who never made it home. The next public milestone is Ham’s extradition to Las Vegas and the formal court process that follows.
Author note: Last updated April 7, 2026.