Las Vegas Police: Suspect Arrested for Killing Homeless Man in Drainage Canal

A Las Vegas man has been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting a homeless individual in a drainage canal where he lived in February.

The Metropolitan Police Department announced Monday that 34-year-old Jemiah Garner was taken into custody on Thursday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

“At about 2:40 a.m. on Feb. 20, Metro received a report of an unresponsive man beside a drainage canal located near Arville Street and Harmon Avenue. When officers arrived, they found Mark Deandre Grant suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Grant died at the scene,” the article read.

The victim apparently lived inside the canal. After he had been shot, he somehow got out of the canal and collapsed nearby.

“Garner is in custody at the Clark County Detention Center for unrelated charges. He was re-booked on April 20, 2023, for open murder with a deadly weapon,” law enforcement said.

Police shared a mugshot of Garner in a social media post on Monday:

34-year-old Jemiah Garner was arrested in connection with a homicide that occurred on February 20, 2023, near Arville & Harmon.

Click below for additional information. pic.twitter.com/2Oq48QCssl

— LVMPD (@LVMPD) April 24, 2023

A woman claiming to be Grant’s girlfriend called him a “terrific friend” and “great boyfriend” after the shooting happened, per the Review-Journal.

The suspect reportedly faces a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a separate case, the outlet said.

According to an 8 News Now report from October, the homeless population rose seven percent in Las Vegas over the past couple of years, with 5,645 people being described as homeless in 2022:

Meanwhile, when it comes to the crime wave plaguing the nation under President Joe Biden’s (D) leadership, “Americans are more likely now than at any time over the past five decades to say there is more crime in their local area than there was a year ago,” according to a Gallup article published in October.

“The 56% of U.S. adults who report an increase in crime where they live marks a five-percentage-point uptick since last year and is the highest by two points in Gallup’s trend dating back to 1972,” the report said.

Garner is expected to appear in court Wednesday for arraignment per his recent arrest, the Review-Journal article said.