In the early morning hours of March 11, 2014, the life of Damon Omir Walker, a 37-year-old Black / African American male, was tragically cut short in a hail of gunfire within a Las Vegas apartment. At approximately 6 a.m., while inside a residence at 1720 W. Bonanza Road, Walker and another man were struck when assailants outside fired multiple shots through a window. Walker sustained fatal gunshot wounds to his jaw and neck and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The second victim survived with injuries to his hip and foot.
The investigation by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department revealed that the shooting was not a random act of violence, but a calculated act of retaliation. Detectives uncovered that the day prior to the deadly shooting, a robbery had occurred at a drug house. One of the individuals involved in that robbery was the brother of a witness who was in the apartment with Walker at the time of the shooting.
The investigation, which spanned four years, ultimately led to the arrests of four men in connection with Damon Walker's murder. The suspects were identified as Anthony Smith, then 48, Rufus Smith, 58, and Carnell Duhon, 48. These three men were taken into custody and faced charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. A fourth suspect, Lawrence Reddick, who was reportedly the victim of the robbery that preceded the shooting, was also arrested on June 19, 2018. Reddick, 39 at the time of his arrest, faced the same charges for his alleged role in the fatal retaliation.
