LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man who is on parole after a murder conviction in California now faces an attempted murder charge in Las Vegas after a parking lot confrontation early Saturday morning.
Anthony Wayne Reed, 52, is accused of attacking a man in a parking lot outside the IHOP at 1809 S. Las Vegas Blvd. near St. Louis Avenue.
According to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrest report, the victim’s injury was so hard to detect that it wasn’t found until he was examined a third time in a hospital room.
A neurologist informed the victim’s sister “there is nothing more medically that can be done for (the victim) and he would likely expire,” according to the arrest report. The victim had moved to Las Vegas from Kentucky in May, and just started working at Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles restaurant two to three weeks ago, according to his sister.
When he was arrested, Reed admitted to police that he had punched another man near the IHOP because he was “talking trash to his sister and he had to defend her,” according to the arrest report. Reed denied having a weapon at the time of the attack and denied stabbing the victim.
“I am not a stabber, I shoot,” he told officers, according to the arrest report.
When police responded to the scene at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, the people who arrived at the restaurant with the victim believed he had a medical episode. He had lagged behind as the others went inside, and he was on the ground when one of the others came back to find him.
But surveillance video from several locations in the area revealed a confrontation with a man who fit Reed’s description, police said.
“Suddenly and unprovoked, the Hispanic male uses his right hand and does a swinging type ‘haymaker’ motion towards the back of (the victim’s) head and strikes one time in the back of the head/neck area … some sort of sharp pick type object that stuck in his head and had to be removed with such force that when removed, (the victim’s) head violently moved in the direction the Hispanic male was pulling in an attempt to dislodge the weapon used.” The victim fell to the pavement immediately after the attack.
Crime scene analysts found only a very small amount of blood on the collar of the victim’s white T-shirt. A break in the skin was not found. But after several attempts to find a wound, a very small break in the scalp was found. “The size of the injury was equivalent to the size of the tip of an ink pen,” according to the arrest report.
Police used video surveillance to compile a description of the suspect, his car and a woman who was a passenger in the car.
The evidence led to Reed, who was living with a woman in North Las Vegas near Camino El Dorado Parkway and Clayton Street.
Police arrested Reed just after 9 p.m. Saturday in the 1800 block of Moonglow Peak Ave. He is charged with one count of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, and he is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 30.
He is currently on parole after a first-degree murder conviction in California, and he had been in contact with his parole supervisor.