LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The man who was shot inside an east Las Vegas Walmart store last week faces domestic violence-related charges, Channel 13 has learned.
Kwame Swain, 28, was hospitalized with critical injuries after the July 21 shooting. The day before the shooting, an arrest report reveals, Swain was the subject of a domestic violence complaint after his girlfriend called Las Vegas police and told them she'd been beaten.
According to court records obtained by Channel 13, Swain's girlfriend told officers he had slapped her, dragged her on the floor by her hair and kicked her in the face multiple times during an argument about "him finding things in her phone that he did not like."
Swain's girlfriend left their apartment and went to the front office for help, where she met with police, the report states.
Officers note that they provided Swain's girlfriend with a "blue card" — a handout that includes domestic violence resources — and gave her information about how to file a protective order. Officers state that she declined to go to a shelter and said she would stay at her mother's house. In the report, officers state they tried unsuccessfully to locate Swain, including through use of LVMPD's drone unit.
The next morning, Swain and his girlfriend were involved in the altercation that ended with Swain being shot and a Las Vegas police officer fatally shooting the suspected gunman.
Channel 13's Shellye Leggett reports the new details revealed by police on Friday:
In court records filed in connection with that incident, investigators state Swain was with his girlfriend at the Walmart in the 5100 block of Boulder Highway when, just before 6 a.m., they were involved in an argument with two women, Raqiya Smith and Ameea Blue.
Police claim one of the women hit Swain in the face with a rock during the fight. Smith then called her boyfriend, 35-year-old Travis Ward, and told him to bring a gun to the Walmart, Asst. Sheriff Bryan Peterson said during a Friday news conference.
Surveillance footage provided by police shows Ward run into the Walmart, shoot Smith, and run back outside. He is seen leaving the store just as Officer Cristobal Magana arrives.
Body camera video shows Magana yell for Ward to drop the gun, then start shooting at him. Ward was pronounced dead at the scene.
You can watch the body camera footage here:
As of Friday, officials with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department described Swain's condition as "stable."
A criminal complaint filed Wednesday by the Clark County District Attorney's office charges Swain with attempted coercion with threat of force and three counts of domestic battery. Jail records show he is being held on a $3,000 bond.
Smith and Blue were booked into the Clark County Detention Center for charges related to the altercation.
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