LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The attorney for the man accused in a road rage shooting that killed an 11-year-old boy is speaking on camera for the first time. He is not saying his client didn't commit the crime, but he wants to clarify his client is not the villain he was accused of being in court before a hearing on Tuesday.
Tyler Matthew Johns, 22, admitted to the homicide in the moments after it happened. As I have previously reported, police body camera video shows him in shock and immediately accepting responsibility.
WATCH | Johns' attorney denies courtroom allegations
"My kid is dead!" Valente Ayala screamed on the body camera video.
"He's dead?" an officer said.
"Yeah, look!" Ayala said.
"I shot at him, bro. I didn't know there was a (expletive) kid in the back," Johns said.
13 Investigates
New body camera footage shows moments police arrive at deadly road rage shooting
Johns is accused in the 215 road rage shooting death of 11-year-old Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria. Brandon was riding to school in his stepfather's car on the morning of Nov. 14, 2025.
"Like, we were road raging. He came up around the side like on the merge," Johns can be heard telling the officer on body camera. "It's 100 percent my fault. I shot at him. I didn't know he had a kid in the car."
Police say Johns and Brandon’s stepfather, Ayala, were jockeying for position in traffic. The confrontation escalated, according to police, after both men rolled down their windows and began yelling at each other. That is when police say Johns fired a single round into Ayala’s vehicle, hitting the child.
Crime
HPD shares new details on fatal road rage shooting
"Is there any chance that the kid will be OK?" Johns asked an officer on scene as he sat, handcuffed in the back of a police vehicle.
Brandon was not okay, and now Johns is facing multiple charges, including first-degree murder by child abuse.
"State of Nevada vs Tyler Matthew Johns. He is present in custody with Mr. Helmick. Mr. DiGiacomo present on behalf of the state. May I see the parties at the bench briefly please?" Judge Jacqueline Bluth said prior to the start of Tuesday's hearing.
That was the moment defense attorney Ryan Helmick learned what else his client was being accused of.
"What was alleged of Mr. Johns is that he had smiled, laughed, and said (an expletive) to the victim's family," Helmick said.
Helmick says the accusation was made by a member of the victim's family through a victim witness advocate who was sitting with them in the courtroom.
"When I get there, I hear about this and I'm saying to myself, that's not what Tyler would do. That's not who Tyler is," Helmick said.
"I don't know what happened before I took the bench. I was told that you were smiling at the family, laughing at the family and calling them names. Again, I wasn't here, so I'm not going to make a judgment. But I can tell you this. If that did happen, it will never happen again in my courtroom," Bluth said to Johns.
In her packed courtroom, the Johns family was seated in the gallery behind their son.
"We know that Tyler smiled at his family. Tyler told me that," Helmick said.
The victim's family sat across the aisle behind the prosecution table on the other side of the courtroom.
"If he were to go out and smile to his family, who he hasn't seen in two months, I can understand how maybe they would have thought that would have been directed to them. I can understand that. But to take it to the level of laughing? Never happened. To take it to the level of (cursing)? Never happened," Helmick said. "If he were to do what somebody is saying that he did, he would have had to have literally turned around like this and looked at the entire victim's family in the back row, which would have been the most obvious thing in the world."
Helmick says the corrections officer assigned to Johns at the hearing confirmed that to his client.
"The correctional officer said, 'I know you didn't do that. I was watching you the whole time. Because if you did, then I'd be putting you in the hole.' And he was not put in the hole," Helmick said.
I asked Helmick if there was any video angle that could prove one way or another whether this happened.
"No, there's not. And we requested it immediately," Helmick said.
I reviewed the entire court video, and it does not show Johns coming into the courtroom. You can only see him during the hearing alongside his lawyer.
"What we want, and this pretty much echoes what Judge Bluth said, is for everybody to be respectful. There's a lot of high emotions in a courtroom, in a homicide courtroom. But what we don't want is stuff to be made up," Helmick said.
Helmick says the allegations are inconsistent with his client's character and his demeanor depicted on body camera footage after the shooting.
I asked Helmick what he would say to someone who believes anyone who pulls out a gun and fires a shot into a neighboring car on the freeway shouldn't be cut any slack.
"Well, I guess it depends on the facts of the case. Was somebody acting in self defense? Was somebody trying to hit them with their vehicle? Was somebody doing something to put the other individual in fear for their life?" Helmick said.
The facts of the case and what preceded the shooting will have to be hashed out in court. No one else involved in the road rage incident has been charged.
Helmick was trying to get the first-degree murder charge against his client thrown out during the Tuesday hearing.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo argued against it.
"If he intentionally shot at the driver in this case and he just missed because the cars were moving and he hit the back seat and killed an 11-year-old, first degree murder! If he intentionally fired at the back window of this occupied vehicle, not knowing there was anybody in there, just meaning to scare the driver, and he killed an 11-year-old child? First degree murder. Sorry! That's what the legislature has decided to protect our children," DiGiacomo told the judge.
And the judge agreed.
"If you fire a weapon not knowing and not meaning to hit a child but the child dies from it, you are on the hook for first-degree murder," Bluth said.
Helmick understands the public perception of his client was bad from the beginning and says that is understandable, but he felt it was vital to set the record straight from his perspective. Johns is due back in court on April 21.
Is there something in the Las Vegas valley you'd like Darcy to look into? Contact 13 Investigates via email at 13investigates@ktnv.com, or by clicking on the banner below.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
