Las Vegas police explain why neighbor in fatal shooting of teen is not facing charges

The 19-year-old shot and killed by a west valley resident Saturday had burglarized a nearby home just before the shooting, Las Vegas police said Monday.

Police added that the man killed, Donavon Johnson, had also been in a confrontation with the shooter and had stolen the shooter’s cellphone just before shots rang out, shedding light on why the shooter is not currently facing charges.

Johnson was killed just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the area of West Desert Inn Road and Remuda Trail. He had been shot several times in the back, the county coroner’s office later determined. He was not armed.

Police say the shooter was not arrested in connection with Johnson’s death because, based on the “evidence available,” the shooter’s actions were deemed “reasonable” by detectives and the district attorney’s office.

“He stood by for officers, which is what you would expect people to do,” Metro homicide Lt. Dan McGrath said Monday. “He was cooperative. He provided a statement.”

As McGrath continued to explain the joint decision not to charge the shooter, he added that “these things are very difficult; they are complicated.”

“(The shooter) is not a police officer. He was in front of his house. He was in a confrontation. You have to kind of weigh all the facts,” McGrath said. “This young man lost his life. And we have a grieving parent. It is a tragedy, but it shouldn’t have happened.”

Court records show Johnson pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to two counts of burglary, one count of grand larceny and one count of possession of stolen property. All four are felonies.

He was also facing felony charges in a separate burglary case, for which he had a status check scheduled Feb. 15.

Before the Saturday shooting, Johnson was seen on a nearby home’s surveillance camera casing houses with three other people, including his sister, who was later arrested in connection, McGrath said. Stolen property from at least one neighborhood home was recovered in Johnson’s car and on Johnson’s person, including the shooter’s cellphone.

Police said the ordeal began when a homeowner who was out of town saw suspicious activity on a home surveillance system and called a neighbor — the shooter — to go check it out. When the neighbor came outside, he saw two people run away with items in their hands and was confronted by a third, Johnson.

A scuffle ensued, during which the neighbor’s phone was taken. The neighbor had been on the phone with the concerned homeowner at the time of the confrontation.

Johnson was shot several times, then continued running for about 150 yards before he collapsed and later died.

“We all do senseless stuff, stupid stuff,” Johnson’s mother, LaDonna Daniels, said Sunday during a candlelight vigil. “But … it didn’t have to happen that way.”

Johnson’s death was the 13th homicide investigated by Metro in 2017.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.