Mirage killing involved fight among cousins, man with decadeslong violent history

A 54-year-old man was arrested early Friday, hours after his cousin was killed and two women were injured during a shooting inside a Las Vegas Strip hotel room.

According to a statement from the Metropolitan Police Department, the suspect, Billy Hemsley, got into a fight with his cousin at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday in Room 8020 of The Mirage before pulling out a gun and shooting his cousin multiple times.

The Clark County coroner’s office had not identified the man who was killed, but police said his name was Acturius Dwayne Milner.

Hemsley also is suspected of shooting Milner’s daughter and her friend multiple times while they were in the hotel room, according to the arrest report. Both women were sent to University Medical Center in critical condition.

The suspect ran off but was found at 2:40 a.m. at a bus station near South Nellis Boulevard and East Twain Avenue, according to the arrest report.

He told police he and his cousin were play fighting, but he became angry when Milner choked him.

When reached late Thursday, a spokesman for MGM Resorts International, which operates the hotel, referred questions to police.

Hemsley has a criminal record in Las Vegas dating to 2000, including four prior battery cases and two attempted murder cases before Thursday, according to court records.

Nearly two decades ago, Hemsley pleaded guilty to aiming a firearm at another human being after police said he shot a cousin named Aucturius Milner on Jan. 1, 2003, while two children were in the home on Walnut Road. It was unclear if the person shot in 2003 was the victim of Thursday night’s shooting.

On Nov. 29, 2012, Hemsley stabbed his girlfriend and stole her vehicle after they fought at their Lewis Avenue apartment over him allegedly using cocaine.

He told the woman: “I am going to kill you,” and “This is what happens in prison when you do wrong,” according to an arrest report submitted to the court at the time.

He pleaded guilty to battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm and was sentenced to five to 14 years in prison. Prison records show that he was released in 2019.

In 2005 his girlfriend of seven years said Hemsley choked her during an argument.

The 2003 shooting resulted in six months of jail time, and the 2005 domestic battery sent him back to the Clark County Detention Center for a year.

Hemsley had one other active case in Las Vegas Justice Court on Friday. He was charged with impaired driving with a prior DUI conviction. He is scheduled for court again Aug. 18 in that case.

He was booked Friday morning on two counts of attempted murder and one count of murder, according to jail records.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter. Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @davidwilson_RJ on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Brett Clarkson contributed to this report.