Las Vegas man pleads guilty in fatal shooting, sexual assault
A man accused of fatally shooting one woman and sexually assaulting another in northeast Las Vegas has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the case.
Gary Walker, 57, was originally charged with murder and multiple accounts of sexual assault in the Feb. 4, 2020, crimes that took the life of Morgan Amaya, 22, an apartment on North Nellis Boulevard. Las Vegas police said Walker shot Amaya during an argument and stuffed her body in a suitcase. Police said he then sexually assaulted an acquaintance of Amaya’s at the apartment before forcing her to help him clean up blood from the shooting.
In District Court Tuesday morning, Walker pleaded guilty to felony counts of voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon and attempted sexual assault. He faces up to 40 years in prison during a sentencing hearing on Feb. 15.
Judge Jacqueline Bluth told Walker he will also will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release as a result of his guilty plea.
Walker said little as his guilty pleas were entered. Asked by the judge at one point if he attempted to sexually assault the surviving victim, he replied, “I agree that she was probably under the nature, not understanding what was going on.”
Police said the Amaya and the surviving woman were acquaintances who had just been released from jail, and that Amaya was also roommate of Walker’s. The surviving woman told detectives she, Amaya and Walker were drinking when an argument broke out between Amaya and Walker, according to an arrest report in the case.
“Morgan and Gary continued to yell at each other near the front door of the apartment,” police wrote in the report. “Gary reached into his pocket and started to pull the handgun out and point it at Morgan when she yelled at him and began to wrestle with Gary. They both fell to the floor and (the woman) heard a gunshot.”
The second woman said she was then sexually assaulted at gunpoint and forced to help clean up the crime scene. Amaya’s body was found in a suitcase at the apartment the next day. Walker later told police the shooting was an accident.
Walker’s defense attorney, Brian Rutledge, declined to comment after the plea was entered.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.