Man pleads guilty in shooting of Chinatown waiter

A man accused of shooting a Las Vegas waiter multiple times at a Chinatown restaurant has pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and mayhem charges, court records show.

Rashawn Gaston-Anderson, 24, was accused of shooting the waiter during an attempted robbery on Dec. 20 at the ShangHai Taste restaurant, at 4266 W. Spring Mountain Road in the city’s Chinatown district. The waiter, Chengyan Wang, survived the shooting and was released from the hospital after undergoing multiple surgeries.

Gaston-Anderson pleaded guilty during a court hearing on Oct. 31 to felony counts of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon and mayhem with use of a deadly weapon, court records show.

According to the guilty plea agreement, he agreed to spend seven to 18 years in prison, although a judge will have the final say on the sentence.

“At the outset of this case, there was a very real possibility that my client would be spending the rest of his natural life in prison,” the defendant’s attorney, Michael Troiano, said Monday in an emailed statement. “Thankfully, in this particular case the criminal justice system worked, and we are grateful that all parties took the appropriate time to work through this complex case, and were able to come to a reasonable resolution that all parties, including the victim, signed off on.”

Gaston-Anderson initially was charged with attempted murder, robbery and battery counts in connection with the shooting.

Initial reports indicated that Wang was shot 11 times during the attempted robbery, but restaurant co-owner Joe Muscaglione previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Wang was actually struck seven times and was injured in the neck, abdomen, shoulder and hand.

Wang had told police that he was mopping the restaurant’s floor after hours when the gunman walked in through an unlocked back door and started talking to him. Wang could only understand the word “money,” according to an arrest report.

The waiter “stood there in shock” before the other man pulled out a gun, shot him multiple times and ran away, the report said.

Gaston-Anderson was arrested at Desert Parkway Mental Health Facility about a week after the shooting, police have said.

As part of the guilty plea agreement, prosecutors indicated that they are not opposed to dismissing charges that Gaston-Anderson faces in three other active cases.

In November 2021, he was charged with burglary of a business and two counts of grand larceny, court records show. He was charged the following month with pandering and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, and he was charged in January with burglary of a business and a misdemeanor count of petit larceny in a third case.

A sentencing hearing in the attempted robbery case is scheduled for Dec. 12.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.