According to police, Aven Drummond was shot as her mother’s later death increased the toll from the August domestic violence case.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Aven Drummond was days from her 15th birthday and preparing for another school year when gunfire inside her southwest Las Vegas home killed her before police officers entered the residence, according to a timeline authorities clarified after the deadly Aug. 10 confrontation.
The 14-year-old’s death was initially one part of a fast-moving account involving fires, an armed suspect, a critically injured woman and a police officer hit by a bullet. Later information separated those events more clearly. Metropolitan Police Department officials confirmed that Aven had already been shot when officers went inside. Her mother, Nichole Drummond, 47, was hiding in a bathroom after reporting that her boyfriend, Jason Simmons, had pursued her with a blowtorch and shot her. Nichole survived the night but later died from her injuries. The coroner ruled her death a homicide. Simmons, 48, died at the home from what authorities determined was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Aven was found in a front bedroom after officers entered the home in the 4500 block of Pigeon Point Court, police said. That fact later required clarification because responding officers also exchanged gunfire with Simmons elsewhere in the residence. A Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the teenager had been shot before officers arrived inside. The distinction placed her fatal injury earlier in the chronology and separated it from the gunfire that wounded Officer Zaira Venegas-Hernandez during the subsequent search for Simmons.
Family members identified Aven publicly after authorities initially referred to her as a juvenile victim. Her sister, Nevaeh Thomas, told the Review-Journal that Aven played volleyball, took part in extracurricular activities and excelled in school. She was a sophomore and was approaching her 15th birthday. Thomas described her younger sister as a central presence in the family. Those details emerged while Nichole Drummond remained hospitalized, meaning relatives were dealing with the teenager’s death while the girl’s mother was still critically injured.
The events that killed Aven began with Nichole’s emergency call shortly after midnight. At approximately 12:29 a.m., police communications received a call from the Pigeon Point Court residence. Nichole reported that Simmons, her boyfriend, had a blowtorch and was trying to burn her. In a recording quoted in the original Law&Crime account, she told dispatchers, “He’s about to burn me up!” While officers were on their way, she reported that she had also been shot. Police said she hid in a bathroom and told dispatchers her teenage daughter was in another bedroom.
Authorities said Simmons was trying to set the residence on fire using gasoline and the blowtorch. Officers arriving at the home could not treat the call simply as a barricade with everyone else safely outside. Two people were believed to remain inside with an armed man, and fires were burning. Police said officers organized an entry team and went into the house. They encountered smoke and several small fires as they searched rooms. Their discovery of Aven in the front bedroom confirmed that the emergency involved another shooting victim in addition to the wounded caller.
The officers then continued looking for Simmons. At a locked master bedroom door, Venegas-Hernandez attempted to force entry, according to the department. Simmons fired several shots through the door. One round struck Venegas-Hernandez in the upper chest, but her ballistic vest stopped it from passing completely through. She was injured by the impact and returned fire. Officers backed away and left the residence, changing the operation from an immediate rescue and search into a barricade response. SWAT officers and crisis negotiators were requested.
Nichole was still communicating with authorities during that period. Police said she eventually reported that Simmons had shot himself. She later exited the home and was transported to a hospital with burns and a gunshot wound. Venegas-Hernandez was also hospitalized after being struck in her vest and survived. SWAT officers then entered and removed Aven from the house so medical personnel could attempt life-saving treatment. The teenager was pronounced dead. Simmons was found unresponsive with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
The coroner later identified Simmons as Jason Alan Simmons and determined that he died by suicide. Investigators said firearms and a blowtorch were recovered in connection with the scene. Police publicly discussed an array of charges they said Simmons would have faced had he survived, but his death meant prosecutors would never file those counts or take them before a court. The absence of a criminal trial also means there will be no prosecution in which witnesses and investigators present a full case about the events leading to the violence.
For Aven’s family, the aftermath changed again when Nichole failed to recover. Authorities announced that the 47-year-old had died after weeks of medical treatment. The Clark County coroner determined that her death resulted from the consequences of thermal injuries and classified it as a homicide. Police said she had been burned and shot by Simmons before the officer-involved shooting. Her death turned the case from one involving a slain teenager and critically injured mother into one in which both mother and daughter died.
The later medical finding also gave greater significance to Nichole’s original call. What began in the public record as a report of a man trying to burn his girlfriend ultimately became evidence in a homicide investigation in which the caller herself died. Her communications had also supplied police with information about Aven’s location, Simmons’ actions and the danger inside the residence. Police have not publicly released a motive explaining why Simmons attacked the family, and the available official accounts do not establish what immediately preceded Nichole’s decision to call 911.
Family members told the Review-Journal there had been no apparent warning of such violence and described Nichole and Simmons as having been in a long-term relationship. Police said the department had no prior calls for service at the home. Those facts provide limited background but do not explain the attack. A lack of previous police calls cannot establish what occurred privately within a relationship, and authorities have not announced evidence that supplies a motive. The known chronology therefore begins with Nichole’s emergency call rather than with a verified explanation for Simmons’ behavior.
The revised timeline also matters for understanding the officer-involved shooting. The department’s early announcement said a juvenile and Simmons were found with gunshot wounds after police exchanged fire inside the home. Without additional detail, that sequence left room for uncertainty about the source and timing of Aven’s injury. Police later specifically confirmed that she had been shot before officers entered. Simmons’ death was separately determined to be self-inflicted. Those findings distinguish the two deaths at the scene from the rounds fired by Venegas-Hernandez during the encounter at the locked bedroom door.
The department has its own process for examining that gunfire. The Aug. 10 case was classified as LVMPD’s 10th officer-involved shooting of the year. Its Critical Incident Review Team examines questions involving policy, tactics and training, while other investigative and prosecutorial reviews address the use of deadly force. As of the department’s public listing, the Force Investigation Team report and district attorney’s decision letter remained pending. Those reviews focus on the police shooting rather than determining whether Aven was shot before officers entered, a point the department has already clarified publicly.
Aven’s death remains at the center of the case even as later developments broadened its toll. She was a student with a birthday approaching, not merely the unidentified juvenile described in the first emergency reports. Her mother survived long enough to escape the house and receive medical care but later died. The man police said attacked them will never stand trial. With the police-use-of-force reviews still pending and no publicly established motive, the official record now provides a clearer chronology of the violence while leaving unanswered why it began.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 28, 2026.