Julio Bravo, a 17-year-old Hispanic/Latino male, was a hardworking young man who was studying for his GED and working at a local Burger King. Described by his mother, Maria, as the family’s protector, Julio dreamed of joining the military and one day buying a mansion for her and his sister. His family remembered him as the man of the house, someone who would pump gas for his mom and help with groceries, a kind and humorous son who made them proud every day.
Just after 1 a.m. on September 15, 2025, Julio was with a friend, Kadie Lugo, on a bench at the basketball courts inside East Las Vegas Family Park in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to police reports, three teenagers who had been driving around looking for people to rob for gas money confronted them. At least two of the teens, wearing ski masks and armed with guns, demanded Lugo’s purse. When Julio refused to give them anything, a gunfight broke out. Julio, who was also armed, exchanged fire with the robbers.
In the chaos, he was fatally wounded. Lugo and one of the suspects were also injured.
Police were alerted by a shot detection system and arrived to find Julio on the basketball court with a handgun near his body. The Clark County coroner later ruled his death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds. As the investigation began, officers stopped a Honda Accord in the park’s parking lot and detained three juveniles who were attempting to flee the scene.
One of the suspects, 17-year-old Jose Juarez, was automatically certified to be tried as an adult due to his age and the nature of the charges. He was booked into custody and faced felony counts including open murder, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery, and battery. At a hearing on September 22, his bail hearing was delayed, and he remained in custody pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for October.
In the following months, the case against the other two suspects moved through the juvenile court system. In November 2025, a judge ruled that the 15-year-old getaway driver, Eric Flores, would also be tried as an adult. He was charged with 10 felony counts, including open murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit robbery.
In the days after the shooting, Julio's grieving family held a news conference, urging prosecutors to hold all three teenagers accountable as adults. "Their actions speak more than their age," the family's attorney stated. His mother, clutching his work uniform, remembered her son as a protector who saved his friend's life. As of November 2025, Juarez and Flores were facing charges in adult court, while certification proceedings for the third teenage suspect, an alleged shooter, remained pending in juvenile court.
