Victim’s video of shooting leads to murder arrest, police say

A man arrested in connection with a killing Sunday in western Las Vegas was identified because the victim recorded the shooting, police said.

Launce Cliff, 21, was arrested on a warrant Thursday and charged with on one count of open murder and one count of carrying a weapon without a permit, according to jail and court records. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the 4300 block of South Grand Canyon Drive at 3:29 a.m. Sunday, according to a statement from police at the time. Arriving officers found a man suffering from gunshot wounds who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Clark County coroner’s office identified him as Jacob Hughey of North Las Vegas. He died of multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide.

An arrest report from Metro released Friday afternoon said that when investigators arrived at the scene, Hughey’s phone was in his hand and was still recording.

The video showed Cliff’s face, the moment Hughey was shot and the 2014 Volkswagen Jetta that Cliff drove off in, according to the arrest report.

Investigators spoke to a bartender in the area who said Hughey showed up around 3:15 a.m. but appeared to be intoxicated, so the bartender didn’t let him in. Video from outside the bar showed Cliff pulled up six minutes later, and the two got into a fight.

Police said the surveillance footage showed Cliff shoot Hughey four times before driving off.

Detectives used a prior mugshot from March 2020 to confirm Cliff matched the shooter seen on Hughey’s video.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter. Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.