Loved ones of a man slain outside a central Las Vegas bar in early June said they are committed to pursuing justice in what they described as a senseless killing.
Anthony Anderson, 37, was shot repeatedly in front of The Dive Bar, 4110 S. Maryland Parkway, on June 1 just after 4 a.m. Anderson’s roommate and best friend, Jordan Garcia, 26, of Las Vegas, has been charged with murder.
Anderson’s girlfriend, Chelsea Capone, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this past week that Anderson was a good, caring person who went by the name “Ash Knight” because he disliked his birth name. Part of this was due to him overcoming a troubled childhood, prompting Anderson to “recreate himself,” she said.
He was a motorcycle enthusiast who loved tattoos, nature and anything related to World War II or the Italian mob. Anderson loved the shows The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire.
“I loved that Ash was so strong,” Capone said. “He had this tough guy exterior, but he had one of the biggest hearts I’d ever seen. He was fiercely loyal to all he cared about. Anytime he’d see a homeless person, he’d give them what he could. If we saw a lost animal, he would pull over every single time.”
The Metropolitan Police Department said in an arrest report for Garcia that Anderson was celebrating his birthday with Capone and Garcia the morning of the killing. Police said the two men were drinking at The Dive Bar when they started to argue in the parking lot over who was going to drive home.
Police said video evidence recovered by detectives showed Anderson shoving Garcia, prompting a fight. During a struggle Garcia took Anderson’s gun from him and fired as Anderson approached him again.
Police said Garcia told investigators he’d been attacked. A bartender said Garcia said “he attacked me and I shot him.” Capone heard a similar statement, police said, and a third witness heard Garcia say “I shot him. He tried to fight me.”
Capone said she doesn’t believe Garcia was attacked.
“What I witnessed that night had nothing to do with self-defense,” she said. “There was no remorse or shock on Jordan’s face. Just anger.”
Garcia is being represented by the Clark County public defender’s office. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Anderson’s mother, Taunya Owens of Elko County, said Anderson was her second-born son. The mother and son were close when he was little, but she also said he endured “a tough childhood.”
“I went to prison when he was in kindergarten, then he went to Belmont, California, to live with his great-grandmother until I got out and off parole,” she said. “He grew into a good man who was fiercely protective over the ones he loved.”
Capone said she first met Anderson in 2021 on his birthday. He later moved to Oregon to be with her. The couple eventually moved to Las Vegas. She said the killing has left her shattered, with the tragedy all the more baffling and painful because Garcia and Anderson were literally the best of friends.
“I don’t understand why he would do this,” she said. “He was our friend, our roommate. Ash was literally telling him all night that he loved him, that they were brothers, and that we would always have his back no matter what. Ash trusted him more than most. I trusted him. And he took one of the most important people away from me.”
Owens said of her son, “no one had the right to take his life, denying his children of a loving father.”
A preliminary hearing for Garcia is scheduled for August.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.
