Shawna McCowan was 43, married with one son, and worked as both a teacher in Aurora, Colorado, and a flight attendant for United Airlines. She split her time between her home state and Las Vegas. On the evening of April 23, 2023, while visiting friends in Las Vegas, she was walking with her boyfriend and their dogs in the Southern Highlands neighborhood. A black sedan with its headlights off pulled onto Bella Lante Avenue; a passenger leaned from a window and began firing. Shawna was struck in the back and neck and later died at University Medical Center. The coroner ruled the cause homicide by gunshot wounds to the torso and neck.

Investigators say Shawna was an innocent bystander; the shots were aimed at two teenagers walking on the same sidewalk. Surveillance showed the shooter fire nearly two dozen rounds from the moving car. Las Vegas police identified four suspects. The alleged gunman, Kevin Perez-Stubbs, then 16, was arrested in May 2023. Three others — Johnathan Perez-Stubbs, 19; Mezarius Finch, 17; and Tyshean Tillman, 19 — were arrested later. The teens faced charges including murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy; the younger defendants were certified to be tried as adults. As of March 2024, plea deals had been accepted by some of the teenagers and Kevin Perez-Stubbs was scheduled for trial in June 2024.

Did anyone see the black sedan on Bella Lante Avenue that night or recognize the shooters’ movements?