Man arrested in connection with Wednesday night homicide

Before he was gunned down in his kitchen Wednesday night, David Cameron Batts told his killer he wasn't afraid to die.

"There is no greater God but Allah," Batts' son heard him say in Arabic, according to arrest records.

Metro arrested Melvin Allen Jr., 33, in connection with the homicide at an apartment complex near McCarran International Airport. Detectives are also seeking a second person of interest, police said.

Police said Allen had an argument with Batts, 39, before officers found him dead inside the complex at 840 King Richard Ave., near the intersection of Hacienda Avenue and Swenson Street.

Someone kicked in the door to Batts' apartment, splintering the wood around the knob and leaving a shoe print about four feet high. Four casings and one cartridge were recovered in the hallway that leads to the kitchen — three casings and the cartridge bore a Federal .380 Auto head stamp, and the other casing was stamped FC NT 9mm Luger.

Metro said Friday that homicide detectives believe the shooting was connected to narcotics. Police found a "large quantity" of marijuana in the apartment, arrest records said.

Muhammad Batts told police he heard Allen ask his father where the "shit" was. Batts said he knows it was Allen, because the suspect has a distinct voice that is easy to identify. He saw a second man running away after the shooting, but he only heard Allen, according to the arrest record.

A neighbor told police he saw a man with shoulder-length dreadlocks running away. Police believe that man was Allen.

Allen told police he and David Batts knew each other for about a year and had a falling out about five weeks ago. Allen said he owed him money, but would not completely explain what caused the tension between the two men.

He told police that the handgun he carried in a holster on his hip had never been fired, and the last time he had been to Batts' apartment was three weeks ago, according to the arrest report.

Allen was taken into custody without incident on Thursday, police said. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center without bail on one count of open murder with a deadly weapon. Allen is also facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, burglary while possessing a deadly weapon, attempted robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.

This is the 118th homicide investigated by Metro in 2015.

Anyone with any information can contact Metro's Homicide Section at 702-828-3521 or homicide@lvmpd.com.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl.