Woman’s May shooting death ruled accidental
The Clark County coroner’s office ruled that a 23-year-old woman’s death was an accident after she was shot when a gun went off at an east Las Vegas Valley apartment complex in May.
Metropolitan Police Department officers were called about 11:30 p.m. May 27 to an apartment complex on the 600 block of McKnight Street, near Bonanza Road and Eastern Avenue, police have said. Officers found Johnaya Brown suffering from a gunshot wound.
Brown was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where she died. The coroner’s office on Thursday said her death, caused by a gunshot wound of the chest, had been ruled an accident.
Police said she and a man were looking at his gun on the patio when it fell from their hands. Homicide Lt. Ray Spencer has said the man told police that he and Brown both grabbed for the gun when it fell, and it accidentally went off, striking the woman.
Spencer said the evidence was consistent with an accidental shooting and that the man had been “extremely cooperative” with police.
The case was submitted to the Clark County district attorney’s office for review, which is Metro’s policy in accidental or self-defense shootings.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.