Man accused in fatal Arts District stabbing extradited from Texas

A man accused of fatally stabbing another man outside of a downtown Las Vegas bar has been extradited from Texas back to Nevada to face charges.

Clark County Detention Center records show Hyland Harper, 40, was booked at the jail Thursday on a warrant charging him with murder and battery with use of a deadly weapon. The Metropolitan Police Department has said Harper is the man depicted on surveillance video killing Jamaal Gaither, 48, in the Arts District in the early morning hours of Sept. 26.

An arrest report for Harper indicates Harper and Gaither had quarreled inside the Cork and Thorn, 70 W. Imperial Ave. One witness told police it appeared the men were fighting over one sitting in the other’s reserved seating area.

Harper, police said, was kicked out of the bar. Police said a security worker at the bar quoted Harper as saying at one point, “I need to beat this guy. He disrespected me.”

Police said that video surveillance showed Gaither exiting the bar at 2:49 a.m. when he was approached by Harper and another man. Harper was depicted on video pulling a folding knife from his back pocket as Gauthier punched Harper’s acquaintance, police said.

“Hyland stepped up to Jamaal and stabbed him once in the neck causing Jamaal to immediately fall to the ground,” police said. “As Jamaal was falling, Hyland tried to stab Jamaal a second time.”

While Gaither was on the ground, police said, Harper’s acquaintance kicked the stabbing victim in the head. Gaither was rushed to University Medical Center where he died.

Police identified Harper as a suspect in part because he scanned his identification at the bar before entering. He was later arrested in the Dallas area. He is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on Saturday morning.

Contact Glenn Puit at [email protected].