The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has released harrowing body camera footage from the November 14, 2025, road-rage shooting that claimed the life of 11-year-old Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria.
The video, made public on Saturday, November 22, captures the immediate aftermath on the 215 Beltway, where the boy's stepfather, Valente Ayala, is seen collapsing in grief as he realizes his stepson has been hit.
“My kid is dead!” Ayala wails to arriving officers, while the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Matthew Johns, is recorded admitting to the shooting: “I shot at him... I didn't even know he had a kid in the car.”
The legal case currently stands as a primary focus for Clark County prosecutors, who are moving forward with a first-degree murder charge against Johns.
Its primary mandate involved a recent preliminary hearing on December 4, where a Henderson judge ruled there was sufficient evidence for a trial.
_ _“If you're a praying man, I would be praying a lot for him right now,” an officer is heard telling Johns in the video, shortly before the child succumbed to a gunshot wound to the head at a local hospital.
The tragedy will also absorb and expand upon a potential death penalty review. A critical component of the ongoing proceedings is the Clark County District Attorney’s decision to submit Johns’ case to a death penalty review committee as of late December 2025.
While Johns’ attorney argues the shooting was "accidental" and fueled by fear, prosecutors contend that firing into a moving vehicle demonstrates a clear intent to kill.
One detective cited the fact that Johns "acted as the aggressor" during the merging dispute as the primary reason for the open murder charge.
One of the most immediate challenges for the grieving family is navigating the public nature of the investigation.
Observers cited the "intense emotional trauma" displayed in the footage, which shows Ayala raming Johns' car to prevent him from fleeing, as the primary reason the community has rallied behind the family.
_ _“We lost a life today that we didn't have to lose,” Henderson Police Chief Reggie Rader stated, urging drivers to de-escalate rather than engage in highway disputes.
The establishment of the "no-bail" status for Johns remains in effect as he awaits his next major court appearance in early 2026.
While the defense claims Johns did not know the child was in the rear seat, the emphasis remains on the 15,000 residents who have followed the case since the boy was shot on his way to school.
Director-level officials at the DA's office pledged to pursue "maximum accountability" for the loss of young Brandon.
As the trial date approaches this spring, the question remains: “Will the suspect's spontaneous admission on bodycam serve as the definitive evidence needed for a first-degree conviction?” a question that will be answered as Las Vegas watches this high-profile murder trial unfold.