Las Vegas police seek person of interest in fatal shooting

Las Vegas police seek help finding a person of interest in a shooting on Sept. 16 that killed an 18-year-old man.

The person is described as a man about 20 to 30 years old. Detectives released a picture that shows him wearing a black hoodie with a white logo and a black backpack.

Brian Lopez was pronounced dead Sept. 18 at University Medical Center from a gunshot wound to the head, and his death was ruled a homicide, the Clark County coroner’s office has said.

He was shot at an apartment complex on the 5300 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard.

One person has been arrested in Lopez’s death: 18-year-old Mario Frieson, on Sept. 24. Frieson was indicted by a grand jury on Oct. 11, according to District Court records.

He faces charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery with a deadly weapon and murder with a deadly weapon.

Detectives believe Lopez was shot during a failed robbery attempt in which two men probably were looking for drugs, the Metropolitan Police Department has said. Witnesses told police they saw the victim arguing with two men outside an apartment before hearing a gunshot.

Ten days before Lopez was shot, Frieson was released from custody in a felony drug possession case. A condition of his release was “intensive supervision,” court records show.

Tanya Lopez, 27, told the Review-Journal in September that her younger brother was a goofy guy who loved soccer and his family. He dreamed of becoming an aviation mechanic and wanted to buy his mom a house to “get her out of the neighborhood that she lived in,” she said.

Brian Lopez’s organs were donated three days after he was pronounced brain dead on Sept. 18, Tanya Lopez said.

Frieson is due to appear in District Court on Oct. 30 as his initial arraignment is continued, court records show.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.