Convicted felon arrested after citizens said he pointed AR-15 at them
A North Las Vegas man with 14 felony convictions and a self-made AR-15 rifle allegedly pointed the gun at people at a Lowe’s store and an audio business and threatened an employee at a Starbucks in Las Vegas before being arrested.
Noel Lynn Waters, 42, is facing felony charges of possessing a machine gun or silencer, owning a gun by a prohibited person and a gross misdemeanor possession of a firearm without a serial number, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report.
Waters has been convicted of 14 felony crimes, all in California, going back to 2003, his most recent one in 2022, based on the arrest report.
His latest arrest occurred at 10:25 a.m. on Oct. 2, following a call from a citizen to police dispatch about a man with a gun outside of the Lowe’s store at 2875 E. Charleston Blvd., police said.
The male citizen said that a man pointed an AR-15 at him and pulled into the Lowe’s parking lot “shouting out his window he is going to shoot everybody” from a white, unregistered BMW M4, according to the report.
Police were called at 10:01 a. m. concerning a man allegedly threatening a male worker at a Starbucks at 4505 E. Charleston. While investigating, a patrol officer heard from a citizen that a man had pointed a gun at him behind an audio store at 4555 E. Charleston, police reported.
The citizen said that the man who held the gun had been driving a white BMW that was in front of the audio store, where the officer found it, parked at an angle over a handicapped parking space, according the police.
The officer decided to make a felony stop of the BMW and took Waters into custody. An identified woman in the car with him was also detained and questioned by police, according to the report.
In a search of Waters’ car, officers found on the driver’s side a black-and-tan AR-15 with “EP Armory” engraved on it, but had no legally required serial number. A gun barrel sound suppressor also was discovered under the driver’s side floor mat, police said.
Waters told police that he owned the gun, which he said he built himself, but that he did not point it at the person by the audio store. He said he only picked it up to show it to them, police reported.
Waters denied knowing anything about the silencer, possession of which by a convicted felon is illegal under Nevada law, according to the report, which noted he had stated “his car was recently stolen.”
Waters also admitted he knew that as a convicted felon he is not allowed to legally possess a firearm but did so “because he believes people are after him,” based on the report.
Las Vegas Justice Court has scheduled a Monday preliminary hearing for Waters, court records show.
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.
