Third suspect in Camelot Inn murder extradited from Louisiana

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - A 31-year-old inmate already serving a 25-year prison sentence in Louisiana has been brought to Potter County for his role in a 2022 murder at the Camelot Inn.

Jeffrey Venta Jabre Walker was booked into the Potter County Detention Center on July 31 on a charge of capital murder and aggravated robbery.

He is the third person named in a criminal complaint that details the events leading to the death of 24-year-old Brandon Slade Ward on November 17, 2022.

According to the complaint, a witness said Ward accompanied him to the Camelot Inn at 2508 East I-40 to meet Walker and sell marijuana.

When the two arrived at the parking lot, the witness called Walker. Shortly after, a pickup truck arrived with two people and parked next to Ward’s black Lexus.

The driver, identified as 25-year-old Marwahn Khalid Evans, exited the vehicle and began to speak with the witness.

As the two talked, the second person in the truck, identified as 23-year-old Braxton Leonard, exited the cab with a rifle and fired the weapon through the windshield of the Lexus, striking Ward.

Leonard and Evans both left the scene, with Leonard returning to retrieve the pickup truck.

Leonard’s phone was found on the scene by responding officers.

Cell phone records show that Walker communicated with Leonard and Evans prior to the shooting as well as immediately after.

The three men were indicted for Ward’s murder on March 1, 2023 in the 320th District Court of Potter County.

Evans was arrested in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana and transported to Potter County Detention Center where his bond was set at $1,250,000 for capital murder and aggravated robbery.

Leonard was apprehended on March 6 in Springhill, Louisiana and shortly extradited to Potter County where he has remained in custody since in lieu of $1,600,000 bond.

Walker and Leonard both have extensive criminal histories in Louisiana.

The two men, who are brothers, were arrested together in 2019 by a U.S. Marshall Task Force.

According to The Bienville Parish Sheriff’s office, the brothers were each accused in unrelated cases of attempted murder and were fugitives from justice when they were located in Plano, Texas by authorities.

At that time, Walker had been identified as the shooter in a gang-related pool hall shooting in Gibsland, Lousiana.

His brother, Leonard, had been erroneously released from Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center in Webster Parish where he was held in lieu of $1.75 million bond on attempted murder, among a litany of other felony offenses.

The outcome of their respective court cases from 2019 is currently unknown.