Police say an argument at a Spencer Street apartment complex ended with one man dead and another jailed on an open murder charge.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A Las Vegas man is accused of fatally shooting his longtime friend in an apartment complex parking lot after accusing him of having an affair with his girlfriend, according to police and court details reported by local news outlets.

The case drew attention in Las Vegas because relatives say the man who was killed, Antwon Watson, had been staying with the suspect only temporarily while waiting to move into his own place. Police identified the suspect as 38-year-old Mychael Thompson and said he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on an open murder charge with a deadly weapon. Family members described Watson as a father of five with another child on the way and said the killing shattered a wide circle of relatives and friends.

Police said officers were called at about 10:15 a.m. on Feb. 12 to the 4800 block of Spencer Street after a report of a man shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Officers found a wounded man there and summoned medical personnel, who took him to a hospital, where he later died. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said detectives determined that Watson and his roommate had argued before the shooting and that Thompson left before officers arrived. Through investigative work, police found Thompson’s vehicle and arrested him later that day. In interviews with local television stations, Watson’s daughters said the two men had known each other for years. Hope Watson said her father “was shot and left dead in the parking lot” by someone he trusted. Her sister, Faith Watson, said the betrayal is what still weighs on the family.

According to court details described by local outlets, Thompson’s girlfriend told police he returned home around 7 a.m. after a night of heavy drinking and accused Watson of having a relationship with her. She said Watson told him to “lay off the alcohol” before the confrontation grew more heated. The woman told investigators the men were arguing chest to chest before moving out of the residence. She later said she heard a gunshot and smelled gunpowder. When she came out, she found Watson outside near a dumpster, according to the reports. A neighbor’s security camera also captured Thompson accusing the pair of having an affair, local coverage said. Police have not publicly released the full arrest report in the materials available online, and public accounts do not answer every question about where each person was standing when the shot was fired or whether there had been earlier threats that morning.

Relatives pushed back on the word “roommate,” saying Watson was staying there only for a short time while waiting for housing of his own. His daughters told KSNV that he was supposed to move by the end of the month and said he had turned to Thompson because of their long friendship. They described Watson as funny, hardworking and deeply involved with his children. Destiny Watson said the family wants him remembered for his life rather than only for the way he died. That personal history adds to the stakes in the case. This was not described by family members as a dispute between strangers or recent acquaintances. It was, in their telling, a killing that happened inside a trusted circle, after one man opened his home to another and then came to suspect betrayal inside that same home. Police have not publicly identified evidence showing an affair actually occurred, and reports available so far frame that claim as an accusation made by Thompson, not as an established fact.

The legal case moved quickly in its first days. Police booked Thompson on a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon after his arrest on Feb. 12. Court records cited by local news organizations said a judge ordered on Feb. 13 that he remain in custody without bail. Reports at the time said his next court appearance was scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 18. As of the publicly available reporting reviewed here, authorities had not announced any reduction or dismissal of the charge. The Clark County Coroner’s Office was identified by police as the agency responsible for the official identification of the dead man and the cause and manner of death. In cases like this, prosecutors can later narrow or amend charges as they review witness statements, forensic testing, video evidence and ballistics work. Public reporting available so far does not describe any self-defense claim being advanced in court, and it does not show any plea entered beyond the initial booking stage.

The scene described in public accounts was ordinary until it was not: a central Las Vegas apartment complex, children inside a bedroom, a parking lot near a dumpster and a dispute that spilled outdoors in broad daylight. That contrast came through in the family’s comments after the shooting. Faith Watson said she never expected her family would face a loss like this. Hope Watson said she wants people to know her father was “much more than a victim.” Destiny Watson said the pain spread across the whole family. Police, meanwhile, treated the case as a homicide from the start and said detectives were continuing to gather information. The department’s public release included the usual request for tips from anyone with information, but the broad outline of the allegation was already in place within a day: an argument between men who knew each other, a shooting outside the apartment, a suspect who drove away and an arrest after police located his vehicle.

Thompson remained publicly identified as the man charged in Watson’s death, as of March 18, and the case was still centered on the allegation that a jealousy-fueled argument turned fatal. The next key milestone is any scheduled court hearing where prosecutors outline the evidence in more detail or move the case toward a preliminary review.