‘Evil found him’: North Las Vegas man sentenced to prison in road rage killing

A judge sentenced a man to four to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay thousands to the victim’s family and the state after he shot and killed another person in a road rage incident.

Keyun Watts, 26, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the Oct. 5 death of Elvin Sejdinovic, who was 22.

Dashboard camera footage from a taxicab driver who witnessed the altercation, police said, showed that Watts confronted Sejdinovic near South Decatur Boulevard and Patrick Lane. Just before, at Russell Road, Sejdinovic attempted to turn right onto Decatur while Watts, the taxi, and other vehicles on the opposite side of the intersection turned left. Watts’ arrest report said that Sejdinovic had a red light and Watts had the green.

Sejdinovic stopped in the turn lane and merged after Watts’ vehicle passed. By the time the vehicles reached Patrick Lane, Watts had fired eight shots at Sejdinovic, who had begun to drive alongside him and eventually crashed near a PT’s Pub.

Watts told police that, before the shooting, Sejdinovic had thrown an object, possibly a water bottle, shouted, and reached for something on the passenger side of his vehicle.

Watts did not call 911 or report the shooting, police said, and he was arrested nearly a month later.

Not a self-defense case

District Judge Carli Kierny told the court that she did not think that the defendant acted in self-defense.

“I don’t see that this was a situation where the amount of force used was proportional to the injuries that were either threatened or actually incurred,” Kierny said. “I also don’t see this as a first-degree [murder case]. This is a true negotiation, because both sides lost and gained a lot.”

“But no matter what we call it legally, the victim’s family is still without their son, without their brother, without their nephew, and there’s nothing we can do to change that,” the judge added.

Previously, Sejdinovic’s father, Alen Sejdinovic, and mother, Velida Husic, begged Kierny to bring down the maximum penalty against Watts. They described their firstborn son as hardworking, respectful, and kind. That night, Alen Sejdinovic said, Elvin was on his way to work.

A video played by prosecutors during the hearing also showed that Sejdinovic loved basketball and family.

“He was doing what I raised him to do. But he never made it, because evil found him,” Sejdinovic said. “Now I walk past my child’s room and hear nothing but the air.”

When Husic read her statement to the judge, she sat at the prosecutors’ table frantically tapping her feet. The mother, who wore a white T-shirt that read “Justice for Elvin,” sobbed as Alen Sejdinovic rubbed her back.

Sejdinovic’s family packed the left side of the courtroom, and Watts’ family did the same on the right. On multiple occasions, snickers and quiet outbursts occurred throughout the gallery.

‘Balancing two ills’

On the live-streaming platform “Kick,” Watts went by “MostValid,” frequently recording himself driving, playing video games, and chatting with others online for nearly 10,000 followers.

Watts declined to speak during the sentencing, but his lawyer, Todd Leventhal, asked that his client receive probation instead of prison time.

Watts’ pregnant fiancee, Leventhal said, was in the courtroom gallery. He said she was also in the car during the shooting.

Leventhal argued that Watts had feared for his and his family’s safety due to the reckless driving behavior of Sejdinovic, whom he called the “initial aggressor.”

“Thank God he reacted the way he reacted. Had his car gone off the road and hit a pole, that baby would not have survived,” Leventhal said. “I’m not going to put down the victim, but he had a horrible, horrible driving record — putting other people in danger, speeding through school zones.”

Before sharing her ruling, Kierny said she hated both reckless driving and senseless gun violence, adding that she was forced to “balance two ills.”

“Mr. Watts, you had a lot of options that you didn’t take that night,” Kierny said.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.