Man charged in fatal shooting of girlfriend

A Memorial Day weekend barbecue turned deadly when a 24-year-old man shot his girlfriend in the head and killed her.

Las Vegas police said Brian Rose shot 22-year-old Henderson resident Jacquelyn Watkins at a house in the 7200 block of Nordic Lights Drive near Eastern Avenue and Warm Springs Road about 11 p.m. Sunday.

After the shooting, Rose fled from police but was soon apprehended on Pecos Road and the Las Vegas Beltway.

Police said Rose, Watkins and two other men drank, smoked marijuana and barbecued at the Nordic Lights house. Then the four went inside and watched television and listened to music.

Rose told police that he jokingly pointed his handgun at Watkins -- his girlfriend of two years -- because she was speaking by phone to another man that Rose didn't like, according to a police report.

The .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun discharged into Watkins' head and Rose, who was panicked, left the house, the report stated.

Rose later told police that he believed the gun wasn't loaded and blamed someone else for loading it.

The gun "just went off," he told police, according to the report.

Rose was booked into the county jail on charges of murder with a deadly weapon.