Man fatally stabbed while at birthday gathering identified

The man who was stabbed to death May 12 was identified Tuesday by the Clark County coroner’s office as 55-year-old Reginald Dwayne Johnson.

Johnson’s body was found by police in a condo complex near U.S. Highway 95 and Jones Boulevard after he and his friend fought, Las Vegas police said.

Johnson, 44-year-old Michael Deshon Jackson and two women, one of them Johnson’s girlfriend, had gathered to drink alcohol, eat pizza and watch basketball on TV to celebrate Jackson’s upcoming birthday.

Johnson, who police originally identified as Reginald Washington, was drunk and accused his girlfriend of wanting to have sex with Jackson. He walked outside, punched Jackson repeatedly and walked back inside to wash his hands because he thought he had won the fight, one of the women told police.

That’s when one of the women noticed Johnson was bleeding from the neck.

Jackson turned himself in to police the next day, saying he didn’t remember hitting or stabbing Johnson, but “if the girls said he stabbed someone, he must have done it,” his arrest report said.

The cause of Johnson’s death was a stab wound of the neck, the coroner’s office said. His death was ruled a homicide.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0831. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber.