A Roy man is dead, and the man accused of killing him during a fight in a Las Vegas Strip casino early Wednesday is in jail.
The dead man, John Massie, was a civilian employee at Hill Air Force Base, said Rachelle Weaver, of Washington Terrace, a close family friend.
Massie, who Weaver said was 45 or 46, was in Las Vegas for a quick getaway.
Las Vegas Police Lt. Lewis Roberts said Massie got into an altercation with Benjamin G. Hawkins, 37, a tourist from Gainesville, Fla., in a restroom at O’Sheas Casino.
The two men did not know each other before the fight, he said.
Police said a racial comment in the casino restroom preceded the single fatal punch.
Hawkins is black. Massie is white.
Police say the two men squared off in the Irish-themed casino’s lobby area where Hawkins threw the fatal punch after Massie made a comment about a black man wearing a yellow shirt.
Roberts said Massie was taken to Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead.
“One punch to the side of the face, and he was out,” Roberts said of the dead man. “Never got back up.”
Detectives were questioning witnesses and reviewing surveillance videotapes to determine exactly what sparked the fatal scuffle, he said.
Massie leaves behind three children and two stepchildren he remained close to, Weaver said, including a son, of whom he had custody.
Weaver described Massie as an avid outdoorsman and handyman who liked motorcycles.
“He would always help his neighbors and would always be doing projects,” she said.
Hawkins was being held at the Clark County jail pending a court appearance today in Las Vegas.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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