An argument at a Las Vegas apartment complex ended with one man dead and another jailed without bail, according to police reports.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Police say a Las Vegas man fatally shot a longtime friend in the parking lot of an apartment complex after an argument on Feb. 12, leaving a father of five dead and sending the suspect to jail on an open murder charge.
The case drew attention in Las Vegas because police and court records describe a killing that followed a personal dispute inside a shared home, then spilled into a parking lot in the middle of the morning. Investigators say the suspect, 38-year-old Mychael Thompson, fled before officers arrived and was later arrested. Family members of the victim, 45-year-old Antwon Watson, have publicly described the death as a deep betrayal by someone Watson trusted while waiting to move into his own place.
Police said officers were called at about 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, to the 4800 block of Spencer Street, near Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway, after a report of a man who had been shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Officers found Watson suffering from a gunshot wound, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Medical personnel took him to a local hospital, where he later died. Homicide detectives said they determined that Watson and Thompson, identified by police as his roommate, had argued before Thompson shot him and left the scene. By the next morning, police had publicly identified Thompson as the suspect and said he had been booked into the Clark County Detention Center on an open murder charge with a deadly weapon allegation. Court records later showed a judge ordered him held without bail. His next court appearance was set for Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Accounts in court records and local television reports add detail to the moments before the shooting, though investigators had not publicly released a full arrest report in the police statement. Thompson’s girlfriend told police that he came home around 7 a.m. after a night of heavy drinking and accused her and Watson of having an affair, according to those records. She said Watson told Thompson to “lay off alcohol,” and the two men argued. The woman told police she saw them face each other chest to chest, then went back toward a bedroom where her three children were. She later reported hearing a gunshot and smelling gunpowder. When she came out, she found Watson outside near a dumpster, according to local reports that cited court documents. Investigators also reviewed neighbor surveillance video that, according to those reports, captured parts of the dispute and the aftermath. Another local report said officers found two 9 mm cartridges in Thompson’s pocket after his arrest, and that those matched casings recovered inside the apartment hallway. Police had not publicly answered all remaining questions, including whether the shooting happened fully inside the apartment, at the doorway, or as the confrontation moved outside.
Watson’s family has challenged one part of the early public description of the case. Police initially referred to Watson as Thompson’s roommate, but Watson’s daughters said their father was staying there only for a short time while waiting to move into his own place by the end of the month. In interviews with Las Vegas television stations, Faith Watson said her father had gone to someone he trusted and “was betrayed.” Hope Watson said Thompson had known her father for a long time and “shot him and left him dead in the parking lot.” Destiny Watson said the family wanted justice and was struggling with the pain of the killing. The daughters also said Watson should be remembered for more than the way he died. They described him as funny, outgoing and devoted to his children. The family said he was the father of five children and had another child on the way. Those details gave the case a wider emotional reach than a routine police blotter item, turning it into a story about friendship, housing strain and sudden loss inside one family.
Public records left some points unsettled even as the broad outline of the case became clear. Police said Thompson fled before officers arrived, and detectives later located his vehicle and took him into custody. Local reports said he was arrested about a dozen miles from the apartment complex. Officers and detectives have not publicly detailed whether Thompson called anyone after the shooting, how long he was gone before he was found, or whether the gun was recovered at the time of his arrest. Court documents cited by local media said detectives believed Thompson was not taking the interview seriously and that he changed his account several times. One report said he first denied being at the apartment, then gave a different explanation for where he had been. Investigators also have not publicly described any prior calls for service involving the people in the apartment or said whether there had been earlier threats. The Clark County coroner later identified the victim as Antwon Watson, 45. The full cause and manner findings were expected through the coroner’s office, though police had already said he died after the shooting.
The legal posture of the case was straightforward by the day after the killing, even if many facts still awaited fuller airing in court. Thompson was booked on suspicion of open murder with a deadly weapon. In Nevada, an open murder charge allows prosecutors to proceed before the final degree of murder is resolved in the court process. A judge ordered Thompson held without bail on Friday, Feb. 13, according to court records cited by local broadcasters. His next scheduled appearance was Wednesday, Feb. 18. That hearing was expected to address the status of the case as prosecutors reviewed the police investigation and any formal charging documents. The next major steps would likely include the filing of a criminal complaint, disclosure of more of the arrest report and witness statements, and possible preliminary hearing dates if the case moved forward in district court. Authorities had not publicly announced any plea, any defense explanation beyond the statements attributed to Thompson in police questioning, or any timetable for trial. As with many homicide cases, more precise details were expected to emerge through court filings rather than the initial police release.
Outside the legal process, the case left a stark picture of violence in an ordinary apartment setting. The police release placed the shooting in a parking lot on Spencer Street, while witness accounts described fear inside the apartment as adults argued and children were kept in a bedroom. The daughters’ remarks gave the public its clearest picture of Watson as a person rather than only a victim named in court records. Faith Watson said she never expected to face this kind of loss. Hope Watson said she spoke with her father often and called him her best friend. Destiny Watson said the family was overwhelmed by grief. Their comments turned a brief homicide update into a portrait of a family mourning a man they said brought humor and warmth to people around him. Police, for their part, stayed narrowly focused on the evidence, saying only that an argument led to the shooting and that the suspect was found and jailed. That contrast between the clipped language of the investigation and the family’s grief has shaped public understanding of the case since the shooting.
As of March 18, Thompson remained the man publicly identified by police and local court records as the defendant in the case, and Watson’s family was still calling for accountability. The next milestone publicly reported was Thompson’s Feb. 18 court appearance, where additional details about the prosecution were expected to begin moving into the record.