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…