One week ago in Henderson, Nevada, an eleven-year-old child, Brandon Dominguez-Chavarria, died in a road rage incident. The child was in the back seat of a vehicle operated by Valente Ayala, his stepfather. He apparently almost clipped another driver. That driver, Tyler Matthew Johns, allegedly discharged a handgun into Ayala’s vehicle. Attempts to save the child failed and he died at the hospital.
As seen on bodycam footage, Johns took immediate responsibility and volunteered to be handcuffed, whining that he had no idea that a child was in the vehicle. Johns was, of course, taken into custody and he is facing some very serious charges, including open murder, discharging a gun at or into a vehicle and discharging a gun within a vehicle in a prohibited area. But here’s the thing: Johns was provoked.
At some point during the dispute, Ayala allegedly rammed his vehicle into Johns’, and that could have caused Johns to fear for his safety. So, then, one might argue that this is a clear case of self-defense. From the looks of things, Ayala is the one who is culpable here, and it’s because of his actions, in my opinion, that his stepson is dead.
No, I do not think that Johns should have been arrested, especially since I have serious doubts as to whether or not Ayala and his stepson are and were here in this country legally. I personally doubt that Ayala’s presence in our country is actually legal. It is because of that that I feel no sympathy for Ayala or his dead stepson.
While I think that this dispute could have been handled with fists rather than a handgun, I do not believe that Johns should be prosecuted, as long as his possession of the gun was legal and properly licensed.
I suppose I might have a different take if the Ayala and the child were White, Asian or Native American, but I am standing firm here: I definitely feel that Ayala has no one else to blame but himself for the boy’s loss of life.