8 Teens Arrested on Murder Charges in Deadly Beating of 17-Year-Old Student
CORRECTION, Nov. 20, 2023: The incident took place near Rancho High School. An earlier version of this article had a different name.
Eight teens are looking at murder charges in Las Vegas after video of a fellow student being literally beaten to death was posted to social media.
The eight are accused in the death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis, who died by homicide as the result of multiple blunt force trauma, KLAS reported Tuesday.
Police reached out to the community for help in identifying two others allegedly involved in the Nov. 1 attack near Rancho High School, the outlet reported.
Video posted to X purported to show the attack.
WARNING: The following video contains graphic violence that some viewers may find disturbing.
Here’s another one, you can tell he’s running for his life!!! pic.twitter.com/qJdNBKVIIW
— Amanda Herrera (@creambery02) November 12, 2023
Lewis’ father, also named Jonathan, told KLAS that his son died as a result of his injuries on Nov. 7, six days after the attack.
“We all must be held accountable for our choices,” the elder Lewis, who does not live in Nevada, told the outlet in a statement.
“We deserve to be able to live in peace and receive love in our community!” he said in the statement. “This is just the beginning of what justice is for me.
“Actually recognizing why, at this age, our children chose violence, the root cause, the terror of constant resource conflict and dependence on a broken system and actually building our own self-regulated wealth and health is a huge part of justice for me as a father too!” the elder Lewis added.
The father said he wanted to see change start from a grassroots effort among people his son’s age.
“I’m calling on the youth to use their collective mob voice to demand change, create a deep sense of community, and do something with your power instead of enslaving yourselves to anger, rage, and cowardly violence,” he said.
In a news conference Tuesday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said there was no evidence that the beating was a so-called hate crime, as the fight was apparently over a pair of wireless headphones “and possible a vape pen” that one student had allegedly stolen from another.
You can watch the entire news conference here.
All of the suspects, who were not named because of their ages, were between the ages of 13 and 17 and were students of Rancho High School, police said.
KLAS noted that, in accordance with state law, 16- and 17-year-old murder suspects would be tried as adults; anyone over the age of 14 may be moved to the adult criminal justice system if a judge so decides.
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