Rasham Sylvester was a 42-year-old Black man and father living in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a social media post following his death, his mother wrote, “My heart is shattered.”
On the afternoon of September 22, 2026, Mr. Sylvester arrived home from work at his residence in the 5700 block of Pavot Court. The time was between 4:44 and 5:00 p.m. For the past couple of weeks, he had been involved in an ongoing dispute with his neighbor. As Mr.
Sylvester got out of his car, his neighbor, 25-year-old Alexain Rodriguez-Navar, emerged from his own home armed with a rifle and opened fire.
Home surveillance video captured Mr. Sylvester walking up his driveway, holding a backpack and a set of keys. As the first shots rang out, he tried to flee into his house but was struck by gunfire and collapsed on his front porch. The footage then showed the gunman coming from around a vehicle to approach Mr. Sylvester and fire several more rounds at him as he lay on the ground.
Inside the home, Mr. Sylvester’s two teenage sons, ages 17 and 14, were playing video games. They told investigators they saw their father arrive home and were waiting for him to come inside when they suddenly heard gunshots. Looking outside, they saw their neighbor, whom they knew as “Alex,” holding a gun and appearing to head toward their house. The two boys barricaded themselves in a back room and remained there until police arrived.
Responding to multiple 911 calls, officers found Mr. Sylvester unresponsive on his front porch. He was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. Rodriguez-Navar surrendered to police outside a neighboring home and was taken into custody. A rifle was later recovered from inside that residence.
Rodriguez-Navar was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and charged with open murder with a deadly weapon. According to court records, he had a prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon in 2016 and was legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. As of September 2026, he had been arrested and charged in connection with the killing.
