Las Vegas police arrest 8 suspects ages 13-17 for murder in teen’s beating death
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - On Tuesday afternoon, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department held a media conference to provide an update on its homicide investigation after a Rancho High School teen student was severely beaten and later died from his injuries.
A Metro spokesperson announced that the department has eight suspects in custody who will be charged with murder in connection with Lewis’ death.
Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson provided details on the incident that led to the victim’s death, explaining that a fight occurred in an alley next to Rancho High School just after school let out on November 1. He said that a citizen found Lewis unresponsive after the beating and brought him back to the school.
The victim was taken to UMC where doctors determined that he had suffered “non-survivable head trauma.” Lt. Johansson referenced a video of the beating that has circulated on social media, calling it “void of humanity.”
He said that the fight was over a pair of stolen wireless headphones and possibly a vape pen, which were taken from friends of the victim. All parties involved agreed to meet in the alley to fight, according to police.
“As soon as a punch is thrown, ten subjects immediately swarm him,” he said. He added that the department was able to identify approximately ten subjects that were involved in the murder and eight of those have been “positively identified” as suspects.
Those eight suspects were taken into custody by LVMPD in participation with an FBI Criminal Apprehension Team. Nine search warrants were executed in total and investigators seized evidence including clothing seen in the video of the beating, as well as multiple cell phones.
Johansson stated that all of the suspects are between 13-17 years of age and that the process is underway for them to be charged as adults. LVMPD will be releasing photos of two individuals who participated in the beating but have not yet been identified.
“There’s a high likelihood that there’s additional video out there that we don’t have,” he said, imploring anyone with information about the beating to contact the department immediately.
“Please don’t put your head in the sand,” he added regarding the topic of discussing the incident with children. He also said that there is “no evidence at this time” that the murder was a hate crime.
The lieutenant said that an autopsy was performed on the victim yesterday. Lewis donated his organs.
Police responded to a battery call at Searles Ave. and 21st St. near Rancho High School on Nov. 1 and found a student who was “battered and bleeding from the head.” He was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and later placed on life support.
The boy’s father told FOX5 that multiple members of his family have served in the military, and added that “this horrific tragedy is reflective of the divisive, conflict-based, uncaring state that our society and humanity is currently facing with how we interact with our community.”
He added that the family denounces violence “as a means to sociological conflict.” Information about a GoFundMe campaign for Jonathan is available here.
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