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Left inset: Tyler Johns ((Henderson Police Department). Right inset: Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria (GoFundMe). Background: Body camera footage showing father Valente Ayala pleading with police after Tyler Johns allegedly shot and killed his son Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria during a road rage incident (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police).
A heart-wrenching incident captured on body camera footage reveals a Nevada stepfather’s anguish after a 22-year-old driver fatally shot his 11-year-old stepson. The driver, in a chilling moment, confessed to the police, saying, “I f—ing killed him,” as seen in the footage and confirmed by authorities.
“I didn”t know he had a kid in the back,” Tyler Johns can be heard telling a responding officer, according to the bodycam footage, which was released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and shared online by local media outlets. “You shot at him?” the officer asks. “Yeah!” the father, Valente Ayala, says. “My kid is dead!”
In the recorded footage, the accused, identified as Johns, reportedly acknowledges that he was involved in a “road rage” episode during the shooting on November 14 along the 215 Beltway in Las Vegas. Johns is seen cooperating with police as he is taken into custody, appearing composed while discussing the alleged events and their consequences.
Johns is heard inquiring of an officer on the scene, “Is there a chance that the kid will be okay?” The officer responds, “There’s always a chance. If you’re a praying man, I would be praying right now,” as captured by the video.
Following the road rage incident, Johns faces multiple charges including murder, discharging a firearm from or within a vehicle or structure in a prohibited area, and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. According to the Henderson Police Department, Johns engaged in a verbal confrontation with Ayala, who was taking his stepson, Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria, to school that Friday morning, before allegedly firing shots.
Henderson Police Chief Reggie Rader reported during a press conference that the two men were “jockeying for positions, trying to pass each other on the congested freeway.” One of them tried to pass the other using the shoulder, at which point the drivers “rolled down their windows and got into a verbal exchange,” according to Rader.
Johns is accused of brandishing a handgun and shooting into Ayala’s vehicle, tragically striking Brandon as he sat in the back seat. Ayala reportedly then “rammed” Johns’ vehicle, resulting in both vehicles halting in the middle of the freeway. The incident escalated into a “heated exchange” between the two men. A nearby Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer, flagged down during the altercation, captured the aftermath on his body camera. Brandon was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
“An 11-year-old was on his way to school and this senseless act took his life,” Rader said. “It is not worth it to engage in this type of behavior.”
Johns was denied bail during his first court appearance last Saturday and remains in custody.