On a sunny Sunday morning in Las Vegas, May 30, 2021, tragedy struck 49-year-old Benjamin McCarty Jr., a Black / African American male. McCarty was in the parking lot of a Pep Boys located at 3995 E. Charleston Blvd., attempting to arrange for his vehicle to be towed. It was approximately 11:01 a.m. when an unknown individual approached him and opened fire, striking him multiple times before fleeing the scene. The brazen daytime shooting left McCarty critically injured.
Medical personnel rushed him to University Medical Center, but his wounds proved fatal, and he was pronounced deceased. The Clark County coroner's office later confirmed that McCarty died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide.
The investigation into McCarty's murder took a significant turn with the arrest of his longtime friend, Ardlanders Gibson, then 48 years old. Police pieced together evidence from eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage from nearby businesses, which suggested a targeted attack. Witnesses reported that the shooter wore multiple layers of clothing, seemingly to hide their identity despite the warm weather. A tip led investigators to Gibson, who, along with McCarty, had a criminal history dating back to the early 1990s, including prison sentences for drug possession and a shooting. According to McCarty's wife, he had been released from prison over a decade prior and had since reformed his life. Gibson was taken into custody and booked at the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder and conspiracy. Despite his arrest, Gibson denied any involvement in his childhood friend's death.
In a surprising development, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced a different suspect in McCarty's killing. Michael Coleman, who was already in custody for the murder of Kidada Stewart, was identified as the perpetrator in the death of Benjamin McCarty Jr. and two other homicides. Through further investigation and evidence collected in the Stewart case, detectives were able to link Coleman to the string of murders. This new information led to the exoneration of another man, Oscar Richardson, who had been wrongfully arrested for one of the other homicides now attributed to Coleman. As a result, Michael Coleman was re-booked at the Clark County Detention Center, facing three additional charges of open murder with a deadly weapon for the deaths of Benjamin McCarty Jr., Marcus Larry, and William Hill Jr.
