Stepfather testifies about road rage shooting that left 11-year-old boy dead

The stepfather of an 11-year-old boy who was killed in a road rage shooting on the 215 Beltway last month testified Thursday that he was scared when the suspect first swerved at him and later drew a gun.

Valente Ayala said through an interpreter in Henderson Justice Court that he was driving 11-year-old Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria to school when Tyler Johns, 22, fired into his vehicle, killing the child.

“He was pointing the gun at my head,” Ayala said at a preliminary hearing. “I looked toward the front, and the worst thing happened. I heard the shot, and I turned around to ask him if he was OK.”

After hearing testimony from Ayala and others, Henderson Justice of the Peace Barbara Schifalacqua ruled that prosecutors had enough evidence to present the case against Johns to a jury.

At first, Ayala said, he only saw blood. When he fully turned to look into the back seat, he saw the boy on the floor. As he testified, Brandon’s mother, Rubi Chavarria, sobbed silently in the back of the courtroom while being embraced by other relatives.

Prosecutors and witnesses said that Johns and Ayala were “jockeying” for positions on the westbound Beltway near Gibson Road on Nov. 14 after merging from a flyover interchange. The two men rolled down their windows and argued before the shooting happened, police have said.

In the back seat of Ayala’s vehicle, Brandon was struck by the gunfire and later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Throughout the hourslong hearing, Johns occasionally turned his head to glance at his family in the courtroom gallery.

His attorney, Ryan Helmick, asked Ayala if he and Johns had argued through their windows, to which the witness replied, “Yes.”

Then Helmick asked Ayala whether he had threatened Johns.

“Of course not,” Ayala said. Ayala also denied cursing at Johns and attempting to hit his vehicle when Johns pointed the weapon.

“You don’t feel like you were driving in a reckless manner whatsoever?” Helmick asked. “You never put your child, Brandon, in jeopardy with the way that you were driving?”

“I was driving appropriately,” Ayala said.

Other witnesses testify

Metropolitan Police Department officer Luke Doty, first to respond to the scene because he was already in the area, also testified during the hearing. He became choked up while recalling the moment he found the boy dead.

“I have to stay professional,” Doty said, pausing. He said that Brandon was shot in the head and appeared beyond medical aid.

Other witnesses, including Russell Klise and Doyle Miller, who were also driving on the Beltway during the shooting, took the stand after Doty.

Miller said he first noticed Johns’ blue sedan when Johns “cut him off” amid the stop-and-go traffic. Miller said he shrugged it off, and moments later, he saw Johns swerve at another vehicle, the SUV driven by Ayala, who, in response, stuck his hand out the window and flipped Johns off.

Miller recalled telling his wife, who was in the passenger seat: “It’s not that big of a deal. What’s he going to do? Shoot somebody?”

It was shortly afterward that Miller heard a gunshot, he said.

The shooting happened on a section of the Beltway within Henderson’s jurisdiction, so the city’s police department led the investigation. Henderson Police Department Detective Kari Skinner said that, after the shooting, she had inspected both Ayala’s and Johns’ vehicles, noting that the former had windows that were tinted “very dark.”

“You wouldn’t be able to see if there was a child in the back seat, right?” Helmick asked, and Skinner agreed.

Before making her ruling, Schifalacqua asked Johns if he would also like to testify in addition to what had been presented. He waived his right to do so.

“It does appear to me that there is sufficient evidence to believe that you, the defendant, Tyler Johns, committed these crimes,” Schifalacqua said. He is due in court again Dec. 11.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.