LAS VEGAS >> Tension was high and security was tight, but the brother of a slain mother of three still managed to flash a gun sign in court Wednesday toward a 22-year-old man held in a bloody home invasion hammer attack that killed the woman and her daughter and left a father of an immigrant Las Vegas family badly injured.

It wasn’t clear if Bryan Devonte Clay Jr. saw the waist-high gesture that Silverio Olmedo made with his right thumb and index finger as he looked toward Clay and exited the courtroom gallery following a three-minute arraignment.

None of the 10 armed court marshals and police officers in the room reacted or apparently saw Olmedo’s gesture. Attempts to reach Olmedo through family members, lawyers and victim assistance officials were not immediately successful.

"Obviously, emotions are running high," Ed Kane, a deputy public defender representing Clay, said outside court.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento entered a not guilty plea on Clay’s behalf and scheduled a June 15 hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for trial in state court. Clay is being held at the Clark County jail. He is not eligible for bail.

Clay’s grandmother, Margaret Brown, was in the courtroom and met after the hearing with Clay’s defense attorneys. She covered her face and tried to avoid reporters as she and another deputy public defender, Dan Silverstein left the courthouse.

"I just want our client to get a fair trial," Silverstein said later.

Clay is accused of slipping into a modest single-story house early April 15, bludgeoning Arturo Martinez as he sat on a couch, and sexually attacking and killing Ignacia "Yady" Yadira Martinez and 10-year-old Karla Martinez in their beds.

A 9-year-old boy and his 4-year-old brother in another bedroom were spared during the attack. They spent more than 24 hours in the home with their critically injured father before the older boy went to school the morning of April 16 and told administrators that his mom and sister were dead and his dad was injured and bloody at home. They are now being cared for by family members.

Clay also is accused of trying to rape a 50-year-old woman hours earlier in a separate street attack not far from the Martinez home.

He faces murder, attempted murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, child abuse and sexual assault with use of a deadly weapon with a minor under 14 years of age. Several of the charges include weapon enhancements that could factor into sentencing if he is convicted.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson watched Wednesday’s proceedings and said outside the courtroom that the case was a high priority for his office. Prosecutors Pam Weckerley and Robert Daskas declined comment. A decision whether to seek the death penalty won’t be made for several weeks.

Police have released photos showing Clay making faces at a department photographer during his arrest Friday at his mother’s house in Las Vegas on an unrelated warrant stemming from allegations that he hit his pregnant 16-year-old ex-girlfriend in February.

A judge on Tuesday set a May 15 preliminary hearing in that case and another alleging Clay grabbed, punched, shoved to the ground and kicked the ex-girlfriend girl in March after she said she was breaking up with him.

Clay was booked late Friday on the murder and sex assault charges after police obtained his DNA and matched it with samples taken from the Martinez home and a baseball cap left at the scene of the attack on the 50-year-old woman.

He told detectives during a recorded interview following his arrest that he drank alcohol, took Ecstasy and smoked PCP the night before the alleged attacks and didn’t remember what he did later.

"Clay did not deny being involved," Las Vegas police said in an arrest report. "He stated he did not remember what happened."

Arturo Martinez, an electrician and teen boxing coach, remained hospitalized Wednesday unable to speak. His brother, Bruno Martinez, said Arturo Martinez has shown some signs of improvement in recent days.

Bruno Martinez lives in Mexico City, but has been in Las Vegas to help his brother’s family, which has been accepting donations through a Construction Workers Industry Charity Foundation fund to defray medical and funeral costs.

Arturo and Yady Martinez moved from Mexico to Las Vegas in the late 1990s, and never obtained U.S. citizenship. The three children were born in the U.S.