Officer takes in 5 kids after their mom was accused of killing dad in North Las Vegas

Eating poke on his break, police Officer Nick Quintana overheard a call Jan. 14 for a fatal shooting in North Las Vegas. But he wasn’t really needed at the scene.

Quintana tried to ignore the call and enjoy the rest of his meal. But he couldn’t.

“I just felt this abrupt urge to go,” Quintana told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I know it sounds weird, but it kept getting stronger.”

At the scene, Quintana learned Emily Ezra, 40, had been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting her ex-husband in the yard with their five children inside the home, the publication reported.

“For me, it brought back a memory from my childhood where my father was killed by a family member of mine,” Quintana told KLAS.

Quintana left to handle another call, but returned to the home later in his shift to be with the children, ages 6 to 17, while they waited for child services to arrive, he told The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

After his shift, he went home and woke up his wife, Amanda, to ask if they could take the children into their home, KVVU reported. The couple met the kids a few days later.

“I’d like to take every single one of you,” Quintana told the children, KLAS reported. “I’d like to take you in our home.”

The past month has been an adjustment for everyone, he told KVVU. The couple has taken classes in being foster parents and hopes to eventually adopt the children.

“I didn’t really have a father figure growing up,” Quintana told the station. “I’ve always longed for that father figure, to be a father, to love my child the way I would’ve loved my father to love me.”

“I’m a regular guy who God called me to their incident,” he told KLAS.

This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Officer takes in 5 kids after their mom was accused of killing dad in North Las Vegas."