Clayton Browne, a 53-year-old Black man, was shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 15, 2023. The shooting happened just after midnight in the parking lot of an apartment complex on the 1600 block of Searles Avenue, near Rancho High School.
According to police reports, Browne’s girlfriend of four and a half years was with him that night. She stepped out of their apartment and saw a man she knew to be Browne’s childhood friend, who was looking for him.
She went back inside to tell Browne, and they both walked out to the parking lot. There, the friend allegedly pulled out a revolver and shot Browne. As the girlfriend ran back to the apartment in fear, she heard a second gunshot. A nearby witness, an employee at a taxi cab lot, told police he heard a woman yell, "No, please don't," followed by two gunshots. He then peeked over a shared wall and saw the suspect fire an additional shot toward the ground.
When officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrived, they found Browne in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and face. Despite lifesaving measures, he was pronounced dead at the scene. During the investigation, detectives learned that Browne and his friend had become upset with each other two days before the shooting. Browne had sent a text message to his friend expressing confusion over their disagreement.
The investigation continued for several months. In late March 2024, authorities located and arrested a suspect in California. The man, identified as 52-year-old Shaun Lee, was taken into custody and booked into a jail in the San Bernardino area to await extradition. Police noted that Lee was a childhood friend of Browne's and had recently been released from a 17-year prison sentence.
Following his return to Nevada, Shaun Lee was charged with one count of open murder in connection with Clayton Browne’s death. As of April 2024, the case was proceeding through the court system.
