Sirens echoed across a Las Vegas freeway as body camera footage captured a heartbreaking scene, showing a Nevada stepfather screaming for help moments after his 11-year-old stepson was shot during what authorities say was a violent road rage encounter involving a 22-year-old driver.
The disturbing footage, released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and circulated by local media, shows officers approaching Tyler Johns, who allegedly fired into another vehicle during a confrontation on the 215 Beltway on November 14.
In the video, Johns appears distraught as he recounts what took place and acknowledges responsibility for the deadly gunfire.
“I didn’t know he had a kid in the back,” Johns can be heard telling a responding officer, appearing shaken as police take control of the scene.
When the officer attempts to clarify what happened, he asks, “You shot at him?”
The stepfather, Valente Ayala, answers in anguish, shouting, “Yeah! My kid is dead!”
Investigators say Johns later admitted on camera that he had been “road raging” during the confrontation.
He cooperated with officers, allowing them to detain him without resistance.
While speaking with authorities, the footage shows Johns asking whether the child had any chance of survival.
“Is there a chance that the kid will be okay?” he asks an officer. The officer replies, “There’s always a chance. If you’re a praying man, I would be praying right now.”
According to law enforcement, the initial conflict began when Johns and Ayala engaged in a heated exchange while driving in heavy morning traffic.
The Henderson Police Department reported that Ayala was taking his stepson, 11-year-old Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria, to school at the time.
Police say the conflict escalated after the men began verbally confronting each other from their vehicles.
Henderson Police Chief Reggie Rader later said during a press conference that the two drivers had been “jockeying for positions, trying to pass each other on the congested freeway.”
One of the vehicles attempted to use the shoulder to speed ahead of the other.
Rader explained that the drivers “rolled down their windows and got into a verbal exchange” before Johns allegedly drew a handgun and fired into Ayala’s vehicle. Brandon, seated in the back seat, was struck.
Rader said Ayala then “rammed” Johns’ vehicle, forcing both cars to stop in the middle of the freeway. T
he men got out and continued confronting each other until a nearby Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer was flagged down.
His body camera captured the immediate aftermath as emergency responders attempted to help the wounded child.
Brandon was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Rader called the shooting a devastating example of spiraling tempers on crowded roads.
“An 11-year-old was on his way to school and this senseless act took his life. It is not worth it to engage in this type of behavior,” he warned.
Johns now faces significant criminal charges, including murder, discharging a firearm from or within a structure or vehicle within a prohibited area, and firing into an occupied vehicle.
He was denied bail during his first court appearance and remains in custody.
In a separate case in California, another fatal confrontation tied to alleged road rage has left a large family grieving.
Authorities say 49-year-old father-of-nine Jason Elola was killed during an encounter in San Francisco after a collision involving his vehicle and that of another driver, identified as Martin W. Davis Jr.
According to officials, Elola had been driving with his wife and two daughters after attending his son’s 18th birthday celebration.
California Highway Patrol officers responded to what they described as an apparent road rage incident and found Elola with severe injuries. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office reported that investigators believe a physical altercation occurred between Elola and Davis before Davis fled.
Officials said Davis later contacted the California Highway Patrol’s non-emergency line to report his involvement and was told to return to the scene, where he was taken into custody on suspicion of murder. He was being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail, but no longer appears in the inmate database.
The rising number of violent confrontations linked to roadway disputes continues to draw concern from authorities nationwide.
In Florida, a separate incident involving a driver accused of threatening a family with a gun was caught on a camera mounted to the suspect’s own vehicle.
Esmeralda Cruz, 23, was arrested in Lehigh Acres after authorities say she nearly struck a man and his dog with her electric blue sports car and then allegedly brandished a firearm during a confrontation.
According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the footage shows Cruz speeding along a residential road, swerving around the man and his dog, and then stepping out of her vehicle with a gun in hand.
In the video, Cruz appears to shout at the couple, at one point pointing the weapon at the dog. Another woman intervenes as Cruz continues yelling profanities.
Authorities say the footage helped them quickly identify Cruz, who was later arrested at her home.
She faces three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The sheriff’s office said the gun was seized after investigators searched her residence.
Sheriff Carmine Marceno noted the rising tension on local roads, stating that the region’s growing traffic has coincided with increasingly volatile encounters.
“The grid is busier than ever. Road rage has no place in Lee County, and won’t be tolerated,” he said.
Cruz was booked into the Lee County Jail but was released the following day after posting a total of fifteen thousand dollars bail.
Road violence has not been limited to the West Coast or the South. In Pennsylvania, another driver says she survived an unprovoked shooting that left her injured and wondering why she was targeted.
Kathryn Runner told WPVI that she was heading down the highway when she came upon a slow-moving vehicle.
Like several cars ahead of her, she moved to pass, but as she did, she noticed something in her peripheral vision.
“As I went around, I just saw something shiny in the corner of my eye, so I look over and I saw the barrel of the gun and then my window popped and then I saw the hole,” she said.
Runner immediately called 911 while attempting to memorize the vehicle’s plate number.
She followed the car briefly until the driver abruptly turned onto another road and allegedly fired two additional shots. One bullet struck her, leaving her wrist numb.
“I definitely was screaming at the 911 operator that he’s shooting at me,” she recalled.
Police say they located the suspect, 41-year-old Christopher Corbi, within minutes and arrested him. Officers reported finding a gun in the vehicle.
Corbi now faces attempted murder, aggravated assault and related charges. He remains held without bond at the Bucks County Jail.
