Two Charged With Capital Murder For Fatal Camelot Inn Shooting

Two Louisiana men have been arrested and charged in connection with a fatal shooting at an Amarillo hotel in November 2022.

Marwahn Khalid Evans, 25, was booked into Potter County Detention Center on Saturday, March 11 on a charge of Capital Murder. His co-defendant, Braxton Lee Leonard, 23, is in the custody of Webster Parish Sheriff pending transport. Leonard is also charged with Capital Murder.

On November 17, 2022 officers with Amarillo Police Department were dispatched to the Camelot Inn at 2508 East I-40 on reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they found 24-year-old Brandon Slade Ward in the passenger side of a black Lexus 8250. Ward had sustained gunshot wounds to his upper body and died on the scene.

A criminal complaint filed with the Potter County District Clerk on March 1 provides a glimpse into the events leading up to Ward's death.

Ward had accompanied another male witness to the Camelot Inn, where they were scheduled to meet another party for an exchange of goods. The buyers arrived in a pickup truck and parked next to the black Lexus.

According to the complaint, the witness gave the driver's description as "5'7" and stocky...substantially similar to the known physical characteristics of the defendant [Evans]"

As the witness spoke to the driver, he observed another individual [Leonard] exit the truck with a rifle. The individual pointed the weapon at the witness, then shifted aim and fired several shots through the windshield of the Lexus, striking Ward.

Surveillance footage obtained in a subsequent investigation showed that the driver fled the scene on foot, while the rifleman retrieved the pickup truck and drove away.

A cell phone was found at the crime scene that was determined to belong to Marwahn Evans. Officers then obtained a series of specialized search warrants that allowed them to unearth evidence that Evan was physically present at the scene for the approximate duration of the crime.

The rifleman was identified as Leonard and he was subsequently interviewed by officers with Amarillo Police Department. In his interview, Leonard acknowledged that he was present at the scene, had been armed with a rifle, and had picked up Evans in the vehicle immediately following the shooting.

Leonard also identified Marwahn Evans as the driver of the truck and admitted that the two "did not have enough money on their persons to purchase the marijuana for the agreed price."

Court records for Potter County show that aggravated robbery charges were filed by indictment in 320th District Court for both Evans and Leonard on January 12.

The newly filed charges for capital murder are a result of investigators establishing enough evidence to show that the death of Ward occurred during the commission of a felony--i.e., the attempted aggravated robbery of the witness.

Evans was arrested in Claiborne Parish and transported to Potter County jail where he remains in lieu of $1,250,000 bond. Braxton Lee Leonard was arrested for his capital murder warrant on March 6 in Springhill, Louisiana and is held without bond pending his transport back to the Texas Panhandle.