Police: ‘Play-fighting’ turned into fatal shooting that killed boy, 15

A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed at a Las Vegas apartment on Labor Day when “play-fighting” with a gun turned into a fatal shooting, records show.

Just before 4:45 p.m. Monday, officers responded to a report of a male shot at an apartment on Kepler Drive, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson said in a briefing that night.

The suspect, Browdy Lee Shaffer, 18, was taken into custody Wednesday and booked into the Clark County Detention Center. He faces a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon.

The victim, James Lobue Jr., 15, was reported as a runaway from Bismarck, North Dakota, according to Shaffer’s arrest report.

Lobue was staying with a friend the night prior to the shooting, according to an interview with his friend’s sister, a girl who police say lived at the apartment and was inside at the time of the shooting.

The girl recalled in an interview with Metro that her stepfather, Larry Calvert, had been upset that several of her brother’s friends, including Lobue, had been sleeping in his living room. According to the report, Calvert poured water on them to wake them up.

The boys left but returned when Maria Voet, the interviewee’s grandmother, called and told them to come back and spend the night in the apartment.

Shaffer, the brother of one of the friends who had spent the night, was angry at Calvert when he heard about the water being poured on the boys and arrived at the apartment with a gun, the report said.

While waiting to “confront” Calvert, the boys started “play-fighting” in a bedroom of the apartment, the report said. Lobue and Shaffer FaceTimed a female that wasn’t identified by police, and Shaffer “was showing off the gun,” according to the report.

Then, a loud “pop” was heard, the girl told police, and Lobue was “holding his side and groaning in pain.” Shaffer stayed to try and help Lobue, but later fled the apartment with his brother, according to the report.

When officers arrived at the scene, Lobue was transported to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Shaffer is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.