Grandmother on birthday party shooting: ‘It’s a tragedy’

A well-attended birthday party turned deadly shortly before midnight Saturday night.

As police investigate the events that led up to the shooting of Jaylin Lewis, 17, the grandmother of the 16-year-old birthday girl, who asked not to be identified, just wants to forget.

“I’m tired,” she said. “It’s a tragedy. I hate it happened.”

Lewis attended the party, at the 1100 block of Tamerack Avenue, near Vegas and Rancho drives, with a friend. As people were heading home and parents were arriving to pick up their kids, someone showed up, ran into the backyard, shot Lewis and ran away, the grandmother said.

She said her granddaughter was not friends with Lewis and did not know him or the suspect.

“We don’t know too much,” she said. “The parents were picking their kids up. The party was over.”

When police arrived, Lewis was in the backyard with apparent gunshot wounds. He was taken to University Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead, according to Las Vegas police.

Police believe social media played a part in this incident, but they declined to say more on the matter.

They are putting together investigative leads to find a suspect, as well as looking into if there were any gang affiliations involved, but couldn’t release any more information due to the ongoing investigation, police spokesman Bill Cassell said.

“Obviously, we have a lot more information, but that is the only thing (we’re able to) release,” he said.

Contact Rochel Leah Goldblatt at rgoldblatt@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381.