Las Vegas family sues over unintentional teen shooting

The family of a 17-year-old boy shot in the head in Las Vegas has filed a lawsuit against the parents of another teenager charged in the shooting.

Gabriel Moncure was hanging out with four people in October 2021 inside a home in southwest Las Vegas, when he was shot with a Taurus PT-111 G2, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by Moncure’s family.

Eric Roy and Stephen Lewis, attorneys for Moncure’s parents, Robert and Lina Moncure, wrote in the complaint that someone named Cory Shirey “sold or otherwise transferred a firearm” to the older brother of two boys, ages 11 and 15, inside the home. But the complaint did not explain how Shirey had given the boys’ brother the weapon.

One of the boys picked up the weapon and fired the gun, striking Moncure in the head, the lawsuit said.

Neither Roy nor Lewis could be reached for comment.

Moncure survived the shooting, but his injuries were not listed in the lawsuit. The parents identified as defendants in the suit, Brandi Camille Maxson and Nathan Welch, were not home at the time of the shooting, according to the complaint.

The boys’ older brother, Isaiah Welch, “was responsible for the control and supervision of his minor siblings,” according to the suit.

Isaiah Welch, whose age was not released, pleaded guilty in July to allowing a child under 18 to possess a firearm, according to court records. He was sentenced to 90 days of probation.

Shirey pleaded guilty in July to transferring a firearm by an unlicensed person and was sentenced to a year of probation.

The Moncures’ complaint alleged negligence against Shirey, Maxson, Nathan Welch and Isaiah Welch.

According to the suit, Maxson and Nathan Welch “should have known (Isaiah Welch) was irresponsible, incompetent, inexperienced and/or unqualified and otherwise unfit to care for, monitor and supervise his minor siblings,” the lawsuit argued.

Other unintentional shootings

In April, 10-year-old Dylan Houston was shot by his 14-year-old brother when the boys were playing with a shotgun in their Henderson home. Police ruled the shooting “accidental,” and the 14-year-old was sentenced to probation and required to undergo grief counseling.

A month earlier, Christopher Campise, 28, died from a gunshot wound in a Las Vegas apartment after he and three others were playing with a firearm, according to police.

Xabier Etchart, 15, was shot and killed in July 2021 after his mother’s boyfriend’s gun fell off the back of their truck at a shooting range.

Brooklynn Mae Mohler, 13, was shot and killed by her best friend on the second-to-last day of school in 2013. The girl who shot Mohler had the gun left out in her Henderson home because her father wanted her to be protected. The Mohlers became advocates for safe gun storage.

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