LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — For the first time since Raheem Rice, 23, was shot and killed, Metro detectives tell the I-Team they think they know who did it.
On June 3, 2018, Rice, a rising senior at UNLV, was crossing the street headed to a party when a gunman shot and killed him.
“He’s the kind of person that would give you the shirt off of his back,” Rice’s mother, Desiree Fahey-Rice, said.
The shooting happened around 1 a.m. near the intersection of Novelty Avenue and Spring Blush Drive in a residential neighborhood in the southwest valley.
“This was kind of like a last-minute thing that he decided to go to at some friends,” Fahey-Rice said. As Rice was walking in the street with another person, a black sedan drove by, made a U-turn, and then fired.
“Wrong place, wrong time. That’s actually what they said,” Fahey-Rice said about what police first told her about the crime.
Plans to travel with friends and goals of becoming an athletic trainer were gone in seconds.
“Some days, you know, you still feel like he’s going come walking through the door,” Fahey-Rice said. “It’s hard.”
“There’s no link,” shared Lt. Ray Spencer, the homicide bureau chief at Metro. “There’s no link between Raheem and the person who pulled the trigger.”
Detectives said Rice was not the intended target of the shooting, and they have spoken to the person whom the shooter was trying to target, Spencer revealed.
Raheem Rice, 23, was shot and killed while walking through this intersection in the southwest valley. (KLAS) 
Raheem Rice, 23, was shot and killed while walking through this intersection in the southwest valley. (KLAS) 
Raheem Rice, 23, was shot and killed while walking through this intersection in the southwest valley. (KLAS) 
Raheem Rice, 23, was shot and killed while walking through this intersection in the southwest valley. (KLAS)
Investigators also have a suspect, who they said is a young man living in the valley right now. With time, detectives believe that person talked about Rice’s murder, and they hope other people will now come forward.
“I’m pretty confident over the last couple years that there’s probably been some discussion, and there’s people out there who know, and that’s who I would ask to reach out to us,” Spencer said.
Surrounded with photos of her son, Rice’s mother said he is with her, his sister and other family members every day. His memory is kept alive in the hearts of a family waiting for what is right.
“We know it’s not going bring them back,” Fahey-Rice said. “But at the same time, it’s still nice to know that there’s justice still left in the world, and that we can get some sort of a justice for, in my opinion, it’s killing of an innocent, you know, he wasn’t a bad kid.”
Detectives are not releasing the suspect’s name, but described him a Black man in his late-teens or early-20s.
Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 702-385-5555 or online here. Crime Stoppers offers a reward for information that leads to a conviction.
