Suspect in Las Vegas Murder Case Arrested, Bail Hearing Denied

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (FOX5) – Regarding a fatal shooting that occurred in September 2023, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has taken one suspect into custody.

On September 15, 2023, ten minutes after midnight, dispatchers received many calls of a gunshot on the 1600 block of Searles Avenue, according to an arrest warrant issued by the LVMPD. When law enforcement and emergency services arrived on the site, they discovered Clayton Browne, the victim, lying in a parking lot next to a building.

Despite attempts to save his life, Brown was declared dead at the scene after it appeared that he had been shot numerous times. Authorities have characterized the suspect as an adult man Black who was observed running away on foot.

After being alerted, the LVMPD Homicide Section assumed control of the investigation. Investigators questioned witnesses and searched the area for surveillance footage on camera.

Browne’s body was discovered lying in a cul-de-sac parking area, apparently shot in the head and face, according to detectives. The report also stated that there looked to be blood on his body and that there were indications of involvement all around him. The victim’s cell phone was also discovered by investigators.

Four hours after the shooting, police spoke with a witness who was working at a taxi cab lot at the time of the incident. The witness said to authorities that he heard a woman exclaim, “No, please don’t,” and that he then heard two gunshots fired quickly from the apartments east of his place of employment.

He claimed to have seen the guy brandishing a black revolver when he peered over a wall toward the flats to the east. According to him, the suspect fired another shot in the direction of the ground after raising the gun from his side at a 45-degree angle to the ground. The witness claimed that parked cars were blocking his view.

The witness reported that the suspect “began to look around” as he made his way through the parking lot in an easterly direction. The witness ducked behind the wall, dialed 911, and left the parking lot of his place of employment.

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Two security officers and a woman who had heard the gunshot were there when he arrived. As the four of them pulled into the apartment complex’s parking area, they noticed the victim lying close to garbage cans. According to the first suspect, the victim was shot a third time by the same suspect in the same spot.

The original witness went back to work when the police arrived and looked over the parking lot’s security tape, but it did not include any film of the incident. It did, however, capture audio, which included three gunshots and screams.

The suspect was described as a black male between the ages of 30 and 40, standing between 5′8′′ and 5′11′′ tall, with a medium frame, extremely short black hair, and a shirt with stripes of blue and white.

A woman who was there when the incident occurred was questioned by police.

A Metro report said, “It should be noted, [she] was untruthful in her recollection of the incident she witnessed, however, after being confronted, she changed her statement and stated she was afraid for her life, which was why she was initially deceitful.” She disclosed to the authorities that she and the victim had dated for around four and a half years.

According to her, Browne departed from their home the day before the shooting and came back at 10 p.m. The woman found what she thought to be a text exchange between Browne and a woman he had an affair with earlier when she was going through a shared cell phone. The texts suggested that Browne should reimburse the other woman for her electricity bill in the amount of roughly $400.

The witness stated that she questioned Browne about it, inquiring as to how, as an unemployed man, he could afford this. According to reports, Browne acknowledged peddling crack cocaine.

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When the lady approached Browne about the messages, he “did not want to talk about them,” and she left the apartment, only to run into another man who was trying to find Browne.

After exiting the apartment, the two proceeded into the parking lot, where the suspect is said to have taken a handgun out of his pocket and fired one shot at Browne. The woman claimed she fled back to their apartment and shut the security screen door because she thought he would try to shoot her as well.

While fleeing away, she reported to the police hearing another gunshot. She said that because she didn’t have any cellular coverage, she was unable to use her iPad to call 911. She went on to say that she “began screaming hysterically for help,” pleading with neighbors to dial 911.

When she heard police sirens approaching, she took her iPad and went back to the shooting scene.

A security guard reported to the police that he was working a shift from 4 p.m. to midnight at a nearby business and that he was speaking with his relief officer when they heard two gunshots in the vicinity, followed shortly after by a third. The witness from the cab company was there when they went to check on the apartment complex’s unarmed security guard.

The apartment security guard echoed the account, saying he had also heard two gunshots fired quickly after each other, followed by a third. Less than thirty minutes after the shooting, video surveillance from a nearby company showed a man who fit the suspect’s description and attire standing outside a store and talking on his cell phone for about twelve seconds.

According to an autopsy conducted on September 15 by the Clark County Coroner’s Office, Browne was killed by murder and sustained numerous gunshot wounds.

Over the next few days, detectives spoke with witnesses over the phone and learned that the victim and the defendant, Shaun Lee, were “close friends” growing up in Compton, California. According to a witness, Lee had lately been let out of jail and had made contact with the victim again.

According to a witness, on September 13, 2023, while the two men were together at the apartment complex, they got into a fight. The witness claimed that Lee was “distraught” and that he left sobbing before coming back with a pistol.

Lee was admitted to the Clark County Detention Center on April 14, per court records. His court appearance is set for April 17, and he is being charged with one count of open murder with a deadly weapon.

For now, Lee is being held without being able to post bail.