Hearing set for ex-boyfriend accused in fatal restaurant shooting

By Cara McCoy

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 | 10:46 a.m.

The ex-boyfriend of a woman shot to death last week outside the Jack in the Box where she worked was arraigned Wednesday morning on a charge of murder in connection with her slaying.

Kevin Gipson, 26, appeared this morning before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace William Jansen. A preliminary hearing was set for April 20.

Bail wasn’t addressed at Wednesday’s hearing but jail records indicate Gipson is being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

He was arrested Friday on one count of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the death of 22-year-old Brittney Lavoll, the mother of two of Gipson’s children. Lavoll was found at about 5:45 a.m. Thursday outside the Jack in the Box at 7510 W. Lake Mead Blvd. with a gunshot wound to the head.

She was taken to University Medical Center, where she died.

According to an arrest report, Gipson told police he shot Lavoll because he was angry about problems with seeing his children.

Witnesses told police after the shooting the man who had the gun fled the scene on foot. Police developed Gipson as a suspect after interviewing Lavoll’s babysitter. Detectives interviewed him twice, the second time with the aid of a polygraph examiner, and Gipson eventually admitted to shooting Lavoll, police said.

He told police he bought the gun from a friend the day before the shooting.

Court records indicate Gipson has prior convictions for attempted theft, a gross misdemeanor for which he served 30 days in jail in 2003. In 2006, he was sentenced to three years of probation for robbery, from which he was dishonorably discharged, records show.