A Nevada suspect is accused of shooting and killing another man inside a Las Vegas Strip hotel over an argument about a $20 gaming voucher, according to an arrest report.
Christopher Mason was arrested on Monday, June 12, on suspicion of murder for the death of 35-year-old Martell Merrill, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had announced.
In their arrest report, police say a housekeeper at the Excalibur noticed an apparent blood stain coming out of a door Sunday afternoon. She opened the door and saw Merrill’s body and called hotel security, who notified the police.
Mason checked into the room on June 6 and was staying with Merrill and another person, police wrote. Detectives learned that on the night of Saturday, June 10, security called 911 after a woman reported that a man she knew as “Quise” had a gun to her boyfriend’s head.
The woman said her boyfriend, Merrill, was talking to her on the phone when he got into a confrontation with another person over a $20 gaming voucher, the report states. She said she heard a thud and then labored breathing, but she gave security the incorrect room number.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video and saw Mason get into an elevator Saturday night and leave the hotel, heading south on Las Vegas Boulevard, according to the arrest report.
They checked Merrill’s phone and saw that he got a text message from Mason Saturday morning asking where a $20 gaming voucher was. There also was a 23-minute phone call between Merrill and his girlfriend that evening, and police wrote that these records corroborated the girlfriend’s story.
Police also showed the woman a photo of Mason, and she identified him as the person she knew as “Quise.”
The Criminal Apprehension Team found Mason in the northwest valley on Monday and took him into custody without further incident.
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