2022-11-17 Ward

Murder of Brandon Slade Ward

Overview

Brandon Slade Ward, 24, was fatally shot on the evening of November 17, 2022, in the parking lot of the Camelot Inn in east Amarillo. Ward had accompanied another man to the hotel to sell marijuana to a buyer, but the meeting was a setup for a robbery: the buyers had arranged to meet knowing they lacked the money to pay, intending instead to rob the seller. When the pickup truck carrying the buyers arrived, the passenger exited with a rifle and fired several shots through the windshield of the sellers' Lexus, killing Ward.^[1]

Three Louisiana men were charged. Marwahn Khalid Evans, 25, identified as the driver of the pickup truck, was charged with capital murder and later pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, receiving 20 years. Braxton Lee Leonard, 23, identified as the rifleman who shot Ward, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 45 years. Jeffrey Venta Jabre Walker, 31 — Leonard's older brother — arranged the meeting and was sentenced to 30 years. The case was prosecuted in Potter County.^[2]

People involved

Background

On the evening of Thursday, November 17, 2022, Ward accompanied Ke'Shawn Ja'Rell Westmoreland to the Camelot Inn at 2508 East I-40 to sell marijuana to a third party. Westmoreland had arranged the meeting by cellphone. According to investigators, cell phone records and messages recovered from Leonard's phone showed that a third person — later identified as Walker — had arranged the meet-up, and that Walker knew neither Leonard nor Evans had enough money to buy the marijuana at the agreed price and planned to rob the witness instead.^[3]
#people/W/Westmoreland/Keshawn

The shooting

At approximately 7:50 p.m., after Westmoreland contacted the buyer by phone to announce his arrival, a pickup truck arrived and backed into a parking space next to the black Lexus ES250. The driver — identified as Evans — exited the truck and engaged Westmoreland in conversation. Westmoreland described the driver as about 5'7" and stocky, substantially similar to Evans's known physical characteristics.^[4]

A second individual — later identified as Leonard — exited the passenger side of the pickup wearing a mask and armed with a rifle. He initially pointed the weapon at Westmoreland, then shifted aim and fired several shots through the windshield of the Lexus, striking Ward. Ward, seated in the passenger seat, suffered fatal gunshot wounds to his upper body and died at the scene.^[5]

Investigation

Responding officers found Ward deceased in the front passenger seat of the black Lexus. Surveillance footage obtained during the investigation corroborated Westmoreland's account: after the shooting, the driver fled the scene on foot, while the rifleman ran a short distance, returned to the pickup truck, and drove away.^[6]

Crime scene investigators recovered a cellphone at the scene that did not belong to Westmoreland or Ward; further investigation determined it belonged to Marwahn Evans. Through a series of technology-based search warrants, investigators established that Evans's known cellphone had been present at the offense location immediately before, during, and after the shooting. Investigation also revealed that Evans had access to the pickup truck seen in the video through his employment.^[7]

The rifleman was identified as Braxton Lee Leonard. In an interview with Amarillo police, Leonard admitted to being present at the scene, arriving as the passenger in the pickup truck, being armed with a rifle, driving the pickup away from the scene, and picking up Evans after Evans fled the immediate area. Leonard identified Evans as the driver and admitted that the two did not have enough money on their persons to purchase the marijuana for the agreed price. Cell phone records and messages on Leonard's phone led investigators to the third co-defendant, Walker.^[8]

Charges

A Potter County grand jury indicted all three men on charges of aggravated robbery and capital murder in March 2023. Aggravated robbery charges had been filed by indictment in the 320th District Court for Evans and Leonard on January 12, 2023.

A criminal complaint filed on March 1, 2023 (Case No. 083596-IC) charged Evans with capital murder by terror threat/other felony (Tex. Penal Code § 19.03(a)(2)), alleging that he intentionally caused Ward's death by shooting him with a firearm while in the course of committing or attempting to commit the robbery of Ke'Shawn Ja'Rell Westmoreland.

Arrests

• Braxton Lee Leonard was arrested on March 6, 2023, in Springhill, Louisiana, on the capital murder warrant and held without bond pending transport to Potter County.
• Marwahn Khalid Evans was arrested in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, and extradited to Potter County. He was booked into the Potter County Detention Center on Saturday, March 11, 2023, and held in lieu of a $1,250,000 bond, with a GPS monitor required as a condition of bond and a no-contact order with the witness.
• Jeffrey Venta Jabre Walker remained in Louisiana to await sentencing on a separate, unrelated criminal proceeding before being extradited to Potter County.

Dispositions

Braxton Lee Leonard

Leonard pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced in January 2026 to 45 years in prison for the death of Ward.

Jeffrey Venta Jabre Walker

Walker was first sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Louisiana judge on the unrelated Louisiana proceeding. Following that sentencing, authorities extradited Walker to Potter County in August 2025. In April 2026, a judge sentenced Walker to 30 years in prison for arranging the meeting that led to Ward's death.

Marwahn Khalid Evans

Evans — a Louisiana native who had been extradited to Potter County and later released on bond — was the last of the three co-defendants to resolve his case. He appeared before District Judge Ana Estevez in the 251st District Court and pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, receiving a sentence of 20 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, Evans's capital murder charge was dismissed.

Key locations

Sources