The Las Vegas case centers on roommates, a birthday night and a sudden fight over driving.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Two roommates spent a birthday outing calling each other brothers before one was fatally shot and the other was charged with open murder, according to police accounts from Las Vegas.
Anthony Anderson, 37, died after the June 1 shooting outside the Dive Bar on Maryland Parkway. Jordan Garcia, 26, was arrested in the case. Police say the men had been celebrating Anderson’s birthday with Anderson’s girlfriend, who later described a night that began with affection and ended with a fight, flashes in a mirror and Anderson on the ground.
The relationship between Anderson and Garcia is one of the most striking parts of the case. Anderson’s girlfriend told investigators the men lived together and were friends. The couple also lived with Garcia, and they had picked him up from work before going out. During the night, the girlfriend said, Anderson and Garcia expressed affection for one another and called each other “brothers.” Police said she reported no known history of conflict between them. That early description gives the case a sharp turn: the suspect was not a stranger outside the bar, but a roommate who had joined the birthday celebration.
The group’s roles that night were also clear before the argument. Anderson was the birthday celebrant. Garcia was the friend and roommate joining after work. The girlfriend was the driver who agreed to take them home because alcohol was involved. Police said Garcia had a few drinks, while Anderson had been drinking heavily. The girlfriend’s account does not describe trouble inside the bar. The turning point came around 4 a.m., after the celebration ended and the group prepared to leave. Anderson insisted on driving, even though the girlfriend had agreed to drive.
Garcia tried to convince Anderson to let the girlfriend drive, police said. The disagreement grew into an argument. What began as a dispute over who should be behind the wheel moved outside the vehicle and became physical. The girlfriend was already in the driver’s seat when she heard or saw the confrontation continue. She looked out and saw the two men on the ground. She got out to break them apart, placing herself between two people she knew well. A bystander from the bar was filming, and she yelled for that person to ask a bartender for help.
The girlfriend told police she separated Anderson and Garcia, then turned to get back into the vehicle. That is when she saw flashes in her mirror, which she believed were from a gun. She then saw Anderson on the ground. The public account does not say whether she saw the gun itself being raised or fired. It does show that her view of the shooting came through a mirror, in the seconds after she had stepped away from the fight. She began screaming for someone to call 911 as the birthday outing became an emergency scene.
A bar employee came outside after hearing the gunfire and tried to help Anderson. Police said the employee reported that Garcia said something close to, “I shot him and he tried to fight me.” Investigators also said seven rounds were fired. Those details changed the case from a chaotic fight outside a bar to a shooting investigation with a named suspect, multiple witnesses and physical evidence on the ground. Anderson was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. He died there from his injuries, according to police.
The weapon further tied the roommates together. Police said the gun belonged to Anderson, but the two men shared it. Anderson’s girlfriend told officers Anderson had been carrying the firearm because Garcia had been at work. She also said it was not unusual for Anderson to carry it. Investigators have not publicly explained how Garcia allegedly gained access to the gun during the fight or whether the firearm had been visible before the shooting. That question may become important as prosecutors and defense attorneys examine the seconds between the fight and the shots.
Garcia did not provide a statement to police at headquarters, investigators said. He invoked his right not to talk and asked for a lawyer. That means the public record now leans heavily on the girlfriend’s description, the bar employee’s account, the reported bystander video and the scene evidence. Police have not released the full video or the full arrest report. They also have not announced whether the shooting was captured on camera, whether surveillance footage exists from nearby businesses or whether additional witnesses have given statements.
The case is moving through Clark County court under an open murder charge. That charge allows prosecutors to proceed while deciding which degree of homicide they believe the evidence supports. The early facts leave several legal questions unresolved. Prosecutors may focus on the number of shots, Garcia’s alleged statement and the girlfriend’s account of the men being separated before the flashes. Defense attorneys may examine the physical fight, the ownership of the gun and whether Garcia claims he acted during a struggle. No defense theory had been laid out publicly in the first reports.
The human timeline remains brief. The three people were together for a birthday celebration on May 31. The argument happened around 4 a.m. June 1. Within minutes, Anderson had been shot, a bar employee was trying to help him and police were investigating Garcia. The words “brothers,” as reported by the girlfriend, now sit beside the facts of the homicide case. Investigators have not said what changed the men’s tone so sharply beyond Anderson’s insistence on driving and Garcia’s attempt to stop him.
What began as Anderson’s birthday outing now rests with the courts, where the next hearings are expected to test the accounts of a friendship that ended in gunfire.
Author note: Last updated July 7, 2026.