A mother and son wanted in the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Brandon Gipson near East Craig Road are now in custody in California, weeks after fleeing Nevada following the June killing. April Fontenot, 44, and Jeremiah Fontenot, 19, are both expected to be booked on charges of open murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder once they're returned to Las Vegas.
According to police details published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, April Fontenot was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on August 7, while Jeremiah Fontenot was picked up separately by the Los Angeles Police Department on August 10. Both were booked into the Century Regional Detention Facility in Los Angeles and now await extradition back to Las Vegas, according to the Review-Journal's reporting, which was also detailed by the Las Vegas Sun.
A Sudden Attack Outside Eagle Trace Apartments
The shooting happened on June 23 at the Eagle Trace Apartments in the 5300 block of East Craig Road, near Las Vegas Boulevard North. Police received a report of a person shot at the apartment complex just before 4:20 p.m. that day, and Metro's initial dispatch logs describe officers responding to a 911 call at 4:18 p.m., finding Gipson inside a vehicle suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, per the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Officers attempted to save Gipson's life, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Homicide detectives determined that Gipson was talking with an acquaintance near the vehicle when two suspects approached and opened fire — the acquaintance was not hurt. A witness, Monique Rodriguez, said the victim was talking with a friend when, suddenly, he was shot at, according to the Review-Journal. The Clark County Coroner's Office later identified the victim as Brandon Gipson.
What Open Murder and Conspiracy Charges Mean
Under Nevada law, an open murder charge allows prosecutors to pursue first-degree murder while leaving room for a jury or judge to convict on a lesser included offense, such as second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter, depending on what the trial evidence shows, according to the Clark County Special Public Defender's Office. It's a standard charging approach in Clark County homicide cases, capital and non-capital alike.
The conspiracy to commit murder charge carries its own weight. Nevada Revised Statute 199.480 classifies it as a Category B felony punishable by a mandatory two to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $5,000, per the Las Vegas Defense Group. Notably, Nevada law does not require prosecutors to prove an overt physical act to establish conspiracy — only that an agreement existed between two or more parties.
A Complex With a Violent History
The Eagle Trace Apartments have seen deadly violence before. In December 2022, the same complex was the site of a double homicide connected to an attempted theft of a semi-automatic rifle, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. And in February 2015, the same block of East Craig Road was the scene of a late-night standoff in which an LVMPD sniper shot and killed an armed man dressed in military attire who had fired a rifle into occupied apartments near Nellis Air Force Base, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
The corridor has continued to see gunfire in recent years. A September 2025 confrontation at the Nellis Air Force Base main gate and a March 2026 shooting near Nellis Boulevard both unfolded along the same stretch, underscoring how frequently emergency crews are dispatched to this heavily trafficked commercial and residential corridor.
Homicides Trending Down Valley-Wide
Zooming out, the Gipson case comes amid a broader dip in violent crime across the valley. LVMPD's annual crime reporting showed a 22 percent drop in murders across its jurisdiction from 2024 to 2025, with early 2026 homicide numbers holding relatively flat compared to the same period last year, according to the Review-Journal. North Las Vegas and Henderson reportedly saw similarly steady homicide rates over that same stretch.
Even so, a string of shootings across the east valley this year has kept homicide detectives leaning on the public for help. Investigators have repeatedly called on residents to share neighborhood surveillance footage and anonymous Crime Stoppers tips to help close out open cases, a pattern Hoodline previously reported amid the broader uptick in violence.
Several details remain unresolved. The exact relationship between April and Jeremiah Fontenot, the motive behind the shooting, and the official timeline for their extradition from Los Angeles to Clark County have not yet been made public.
