A 15-year-old boy who had just arrived in Las Vegas to stay with his father was shot and killed inside a Kepler Drive apartment after what homicide detectives later determined was reckless play-fighting with a handgun among a group of teenagers. The victim, identified in arrest reports as James Lobue Jr., had been reported missing as a runaway by police in Bismarck, North Dakota, weeks before he turned up in Las Vegas and was killed.
According to arrest reports reviewed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Lobue had traveled from North Dakota after being reported missing there in August 2024 and had only recently arrived at his father's residence in Las Vegas before the fatal shooting. Detectives determined the shooting stemmed from play-fighting with a firearm among teenagers gathered inside the apartment, where suspect Browdy Lee Shaffer had allegedly been showing off the weapon during a video call just before it discharged, the paper reported.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department communications received 911 calls reporting that a male juvenile had been shot inside an apartment unit in the 6900 block of Kepler Drive, near East Carey Avenue and North Hollywood Boulevard, according to LVMPD records. Emergency medical responders transported the teen to the trauma center at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where hospital physicians pronounced him dead. UMC operates the state's only Level I Adult Trauma Center, treating more than 14,000 trauma patients a year across a 10,000-square-mile service area, per the UNLV Emergency Medicine Residency program.
Suspect Fled Before Arrest by Multi-Agency Fugitive Team
LVMPD's homicide section assumed control of the crime scene and processed ballistic evidence recovered inside the residence, according to police records. Arrest reports noted that after the gun was fired, Shaffer initially attempted to render aid to Lobue before fleeing the apartment complex alongside his brother ahead of police arriving on scene, per the Review-Journal's reporting.
Investigators identified Shaffer as the suspect through forensic leads and neighborhood interviews, according to police records. Two days later, on September 4, 2024, surveillance teams with the Criminal Apprehension Team located and arrested the then-18-year-old without further incident. CAT is an FBI-led regional task force housed within LVMPD's Major Violators Bureau, combining resources from the FBI, LVMPD, Henderson Police Department, and North Las Vegas Police Department, according to LVMPD.
Shaffer was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon, per Clark County Detention Center records, and he is being held without bail. Under Nevada Revised Statutes 200.010 and 200.030, an open murder charge lets prosecutors proceed without specifying in advance whether the case is first-degree or second-degree murder, leaving that determination to a judge or jury based on trial evidence, according to Clark County. Open murder indictments in Nevada can also encompass lesser included offenses such as voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.
Overnight Gathering Happened Without Stepfather's Knowledge
Witness interviews documented in Metro police reports indicated the teenagers had been staying overnight in the apartment's living room without the resident stepfather's knowledge or consent, adding social context to how the group came to be gathered there. An autopsy by the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner concluded Lobue died from gunshot wounds to his right arm and torso, officially ruling the death a homicide, the Review-Journal reported. The coroner's office has said it will release the juvenile decedent's official identity and certified cause and manner of death after formal next-of-kin notification.
The Nevada Globe first reported on Shaffer's arrest, citing LVMPD's Office of Public Information and Clark County Detention Center records tied to event number LLV240900006644. Anyone with information can contact LVMPD's homicide section at (702) 828-3521 or by email at [email protected], or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers of Nevada at crimestoppersofnv.com.
Case Fits Into a Broader Decline in Las Vegas Homicides
The Kepler Drive shooting comes amid a broader downward trend in violent crime across the valley. LVMPD records show homicides across Metro's jurisdiction dropped 21.7 percent, from 158 in 2021 to 90 in 2025, while the homicide section has maintained a case clearance rate exceeding 90 percent, a trend Hoodline detailed in its earlier report on a separate teen shooting near Sahara Avenue that also referenced the Kepler Drive case. Formal charges against Shaffer remain allegations at this stage, with the case now moving through the Clark County judicial system.
