In the quiet moments of a Saturday night in North Las Vegas, the life of 17-year-old Clemente Medina Jr. was tragically cut short. On January 13, 2018, the Hispanic male was behind the wheel of his white pickup truck, waiting at a red light near the intersection of Civic Center Drive and Evans Avenue. It was a scene that plays out countless times a day in the bustling city, but for Medina, it would be his last.
As he sat in his vehicle, a dark-colored sedan pulled up alongside him.
A brief exchange of words, the nature of which may never be known, passed between Medina and the occupant or occupants of the other car. In the next moment, the night was shattered by the sound of gunfire. A bullet struck Medina in the chest, a fatal wound that would end his young life.
After the shooting, Medina's pickup truck rolled forward, crashing into a tree in the center median. When police officers arrived at what they initially thought was a traffic accident around 10:30 p.m., they discovered the grim reality of the situation. Medina was unresponsive, and it was clear that he had been the victim of a violent crime. The Clark County coroner's office would later confirm that he died from a gunshot wound to the chest and ruled his death a homicide. At the time of his death, Medina had last been a junior at Rancho High School in February of the previous year.
In the days that followed, North Las Vegas homicide investigators appealed to the public for any information that could lead to the identification and capture of the person or people responsible for Clemente Medina Jr.'s death. The dark-colored sedan was the only lead made public, but it was a vague clue in a city of millions. It was unclear if Medina knew his assailant or what could have possibly motivated the senseless act of violence. To date, there have been no announced arrests or publicly identified suspects in the murder of Clemente Medina Jr. The case remains a painful, unanswered question for his family and the community, a story of a young life extinguished with no one held accountable.
