Henderson teen shot dead in apartment

Heather Rawlyk and Jen Lawson

Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

A Henderson boy was shot and killed on his 14th birthday by a friend in an apartment Wednesday morning, police said.

Jake Alan Reeder, 15, is charged with murder in connection with the shooting and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, Officer Shane Lewis, spokesman for the Henderson Police Department, said.

The victim was identified this morning by the coroner's office as Dustin Osborn. He was an eighth grade student at Greenspun Junior High School, Leslie Brusca, spokeswoman for the Clark County School District, said.

Reeder had been an eighth grader at Thurman White Middle School but withdrew Dec. 15 and began attending the South Continuation School under orders from juvenile court, Brusca said.

Osborn's birthday was Wednesday and he was visiting Reeder, who was home alone in his apartment at the Palm Villas apartment complex, 650 Whitney Ranch Drive, near Sunset Road, when the two boys found a handgun in the residence, Lewis said.

"While handling the handgun, Jake Reeder fired and fatally wounded his friend," Lewis said.

After shooting Osborn, Reeder called his mother, and she called 911 about 10:50 a.m. and told authorities that her son's friend had been shot, Lewis said.

Police determined there was probable cause to arrest Reeder and to have him charged with murder, but police have not ruled out that the shooting was an accident, Lewis said. Lewis said he could not provide more details about the shooting.

State law requires that minors ages 8 and older who are charged with murder be charged as adults and booked into an adult jail.

Lewis said he did not know why the two teens were home alone during school hours on a school day.

Doug Snow, a resident at the apartment complex, said it often is "crawling" with teens during school hours.

"The kids ditch school all the time," he said. "The parents aren't home, they don't know their kids skipped and they don't know where their kids are or what they're doing.

"I see kids walking around here during school hours all the time."

Snow said he was inside his apartment around the corner when he heard two gunshots fired.

"I am a hunter and an ex-police officer," he said. "I know gunshots, and there were two of them."

Snow said he doubts the shooting was an accident, considering there were two shots fired.

"Well, I heard two," he said. "One shot is an accident, but two shots probably isn't."

After talking to several neighbors, Snow said he learned that Reeder's father, who lives inside the apartment, was a gun collector.

"I was told that the father was also a very responsible gun owner," he said. "But it only takes one slip and your kids can get a hold of them (guns in the home).

"This kind of incident is very sad," he added. "I believe in having guns and owning guns, but I say if you're going to have those guns you need to lock them up somewhere and put locks on the guns, too, if there are kids in the house."

Snow said he saw the victim's father after the shooting.

"He was extremely shook up and couldn't even get words out of his mouth to talk," he said. "He was a mess, understandably."

This is the third shooting of a teen by a teen in less than a month.

On March 29, 14-year-old Erica Mendoza was killed when her 15-year-old brother accidentally shot her in the head in their east side apartment.

Less than a week later, on April 4, a 13-year-old northeast Las Vegas boy was shot in the stomach by a neighborhood friend after the boys found a gun in a garage. The names of those involved were not released.

No one was charged in either shooting because they were determined to be accidental, police said.