Teen sentenced in fatal shooting of Legacy football player
A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to prison for up to 25 years on Thursday for fatally shooting a 17-year-old Legacy High School football player at a Las Vegas hotel last year.
Sin’cere Smith, who is also identified in court records as Sincere Smith, pleaded guilty in January to a second-degree murder charge in the killing of Omarion Wilson. He entered what is known as an Alford plea, meaning he only admitted that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
Wilson, of North Las Vegas, was shot and killed on March 25, 2023, during a friend’s 18th birthday party at the Platinum Hotel and Spa, near Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. Police have said there was an altercation with people who arrived at the party without being invited.
Witnesses told police that several people who arrived at the party were wearing ski masks. Smith was seen in surveillance footage at the hotel placing a firearm into a backpack, and he was seen in surveillance footage running away from the hotel after the shooting.
Smith was arrested in June by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
District Judge Tierra Jones sentenced Smith to between eight and 25 years in prison, a sentence that was agreed on in Smith’s guilty plea. She also ordered him to pay $5,000 in restitution.
“He was barely 15 at the time of the offense,” said Smith’s public defender, Michael Castillo. “I think the result of the settlement conference does reflect his age and those factors.”
Smith did not make a statement to the judge during Thursday’s hearing.
Wilson’s mother, Laquinna Wilson, tearfully recounted the night she learned that her son had been killed. She recalled driving to hospitals, begging someone to tell her where her son was.
“I was filled with so much hurt, I had never cried so much in my life,” Laquinna Wilson said.
She described her son as an active, outgoing boy who loved boxing and playing football. He was a senior at Legacy High School in North Las Vegas, where he played middle linebacker for the school’s football team. Hundreds of people attended a vigil held at the high school shortly after the fatal shooting.
Omarion Wilson now has a 6-month-old daughter, although he did not live to see her born, his mother said.
“I have to raise my granddaughter without a father,” Laquinna Wilson said. “I have to explain to her why she will never meet or see her father.”
Her son was looking forward to attending prom and graduating, Laquinna Wilson said. Instead, she buried her son in the outfit he had planned to wear to his school’s prom.
Laquinna Wilson said that after her son’s death, she saw pictures on social media of other teenagers posing with guns in front of his grave. She denounced Smith and any other teenagers who were involved in the shooting.
“He took away an innocent child,” she said about Smith. “He killed my son, took away his life, because he wanted to be a tough boy.”
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.