A 23-year-old man is facing murder charges after Las Vegas police say he shot and killed his mother's boyfriend inside a backyard shed on East Ogden Avenue, following months of alleged domestic abuse. Gabriel Rivera was arrested in Menifee, California on August 31, weeks after 39-year-old Edward McClellan was found shot to death in the early morning hours of August 5.
According to charging documents cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the shooting happened in the 4500 block of East Ogden Avenue, near Charleston and Lamb boulevards, where McClellan had reportedly been living inside a backyard shed. Police say McClellan had a history of physically abusing Rivera's mother, and that he had forced her back into their makeshift home when she tried to leave, according to reporting from KTNV.
Rivera's mother told detectives that McClellan once caused her to suffer a black eye, according to the charging documents, and during a separate interview described him as jealous and prone to accusing her of sleeping around. Those accounts are central to the case, though prosecutors have moved forward with an open murder charge rather than any legal justification tied to the abuse allegations.
A Late-Night Confrontation at the Shed
Per KTNV's account of the incident, a man wearing all dark clothing arrived at McClellan's shed in a white van and was escorted to speak with McClellan by a neighbor. The man reportedly asked to see both Rivera's mother and McClellan, and a witness who was inside the shed with McClellan told detectives that the man repeatedly knocked on the door while shouting, “Where's my mom?” several times before gunshots rang out.
The man then fled in the white van, KTNV reported. Investigators say the vehicle matched a car belonging to Gabriel Rivera, a detail that became a key thread in tying him to the killing.
Police were dispatched to the scene at roughly 4:25 a.m. on August 5 after receiving two 911 calls along with an automated alert from the city's ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection system, the Review-Journal reported. Investigators later recovered 10 handgun cartridge cases surrounding McClellan's body inside the shed, underscoring the intensity of the scene documented in the police arrest report.
Tracking a Suspect Across State Lines
Detectives used witness interviews and cell phone tower data to link Rivera to the killing, according to KTNV, with cell phone records placing him in the area at the time of the shooting. That evidence eventually led investigators outside Nevada entirely.
Rivera was arrested on August 31 in Menifee, California, by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. He was held at the Riverside Southwest Detention Center pending extradition back to Nevada to face charges in Clark County.
What Rivera Is Charged With
Rivera faces two felony charges in Las Vegas Justice Court: open murder with a deadly weapon, and battery with the use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, per the Review-Journal's review of court filings. Under Nevada Revised Statutes § 200.030, an open murder charge allows prosecutors to allege general homicide without specifying the degree upfront, leaving it to a jury to decide whether to convict on first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter, according to the Las Vegas Defense Group.
If convicted of first-degree murder in a case where prosecutors do not seek the death penalty, Nevada law allows for a sentence of life without parole, life with parole eligibility after 20 years, or a 50-year prison term with parole eligibility after 20 years, according to the Clark County Special Public Defender's Office. Murder is classified as a Category A felony in the state.
A Pattern Across Clark County
The case adds to a grim tally of domestic violence-linked deaths across Nevada. A report from the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence found that 45 people died across 32 domestic violence-related homicide incidents statewide in 2025, with Clark County accounting for 40 of those fatalities, according to reporting by KTVN.
The technology that first alerted officers to the shooting has become a routine part of how Las Vegas police respond to gunfire. Data cited by SoundThinking shows that more than 80% of ShotSpotter acoustic alerts in Las Vegas occur without any accompanying 911 call from the public, illustrating how heavily the department has come to rely on the system since first deploying it in 2017.
Rivera's extradition proceedings and initial court appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court remain pending. It is not yet clear whether his defense will raise arguments related to self-defense, defense of others, or heat of passion in response to the open murder charge.
