A 15-year-old Nevada boy faces a murder charge as an adult for a deadly shooting at a teenager’s birthday party inside a Las Vegas hotel room, according to reports.
Sin’cere Smith was accused of killing 17-year-old Omarion Wilson during the gathering at a hotel on March 25, records said. The hotel is located on Flamingo Road about a block east of the Las Vegas Strip.
Wilson was wrapping up his senior year at Legacy High School in North Las Vegas, his family said, describing him as outgoing and competitive and a well-known football and track athlete.
Police in California arrested Smith in June. He made his initial court appearance last week, records showed, and was certified as an adult in Las Vegas Justice Court.
The party in the one-bedroom suite was to celebrate an 18-year-old’s birthday, police said. Several witnesses told police a group of teenagers, some wearing ski masks, came to the room right before the shooting.
“There were people in the group that had ‘a beef’ with Wilson,” one witness told police, according to documents. “Everyone else in the group were [sic] standing around like they were waiting for something to happen.”
Other witnesses told police they hid from the shooter in a closet, fearing more violence.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from before the shooting, which they said showed Smith and a group of other teenage boys arriving to a parking garage, taking a gun from his waistband and putting it into a backpack, documents said.
“While riding up to the fifth floor, Smith began to manipulate the top backpack zipper area; [the] same area he placed the gun into moments prior,” detectives said. “Smith was the last to get off the elevator and did not have his face covered; however, [he] had a black piece of cloth wrapped around his head.”
Four minutes after the boys reached the floor where the group was holding the party, video showed the same group running away via the stairs, police said.
Smith then ran back to a car and tried to pull out of his parking spot, but struck a cement pillar several times, police said. Using license plate readers, police later found the car abandoned on Las Vegas Boulevard near Sunset Road.
Detectives obtained videos posted to social media, which they said showed Smith arriving in Las Vegas from Oakland, California, and driving the car. The social media account cited in the report has since been deleted.
Two judges denied setting bail during Smith’s probable cause hearing and initial appearance, records showed. A court hearing, where bail could be addressed, was scheduled for Thursday.
Documents did not include Smith’s birthday, but his birth year indicates he would turn 15 in 2023. Additionally, a Metro homicide log noted Smith was 15.
In Nevada, if a 16-year-old or 17-year-old is charged with murder, the case is automatically moved to the adult system. The process is referred to as certification. Judges can certify children over the age of 14 as adults for any felony offense, including murder, though the process is not automatic.
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