'Failure of All Humanity': Las Vegas Teen Mercilessly Beaten by Gang of 15 in Horrific Viral Video Has Died From Injuries
A Las Vegas teenager is dead after a brutal beating at the hands of a gang of 15 youths.
Jonathan Lewis, 17, was pronounced dead less Tuesday after the gang attack outside of Rancho High School on Nov. 1, according to Fox News.
Videos of the ruthless attack were shared on social media.
At least two spectators appeared to stand by during the assault, content to film the act of violence without interfering.
A GoFundMe set up by the victim’s father (also named Jonathan Lewis) indicates the teen’s attackers targeted him for standing up for the victim of a robbery at the hands of the same group.
Lewis was an aspiring artist who was considering enlisting in the Navy after graduation, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Lewis’ father said his son was originally attacked by a smaller group — who were seemingly unable to overwhelm without an overwhelming numerical advantage.
“A couple [of people]attacked him, and they weren’t able to hurt him enough, and they all attacked him at once,” he said.
The victim’s father has indicated that authorities plan to charge several of the assailants involved in the killing with murder.
No arrests had been reported Friday, according to the Review-Journal.
“I think there’s just a failure of all of humanity to recognize that we need to be teaching our youth how to coexist,” the elder Lewis said of the killing, according to KLAS-TV.
“Violence just begets more violence,” he said, “and these children don’t even know what they’re doing half the time.”
“I just love my children with all my heart, and it’s just unimaginable that we could ever come to this point.”
The teen’s family set up a website — Team Jonathan Lewis — to “bring endless focus to solving the problems that were the root cause of why our children have become to lost in violence and hate.”
“Jonathan was a hero who tried to help a smaller child who was being bullied and 15 people attacked him in cowardly violence and our beloved son was beaten to death!” the website says.
“After holding my son’s hand in the hospital while on life support for 2 days and nights and watching his life leave his body and being shocked by the immensity and horror of my beloved boy just being beaten to death I felt a mission to act that moved me to my core,” Lewis said on the site.
“I felt my sons spirit connecting to me and saying ‘God has a mission for you for the rest of your life dad show them the warrior strength of love’!”
The brutal nature of the attack has led some to call for prosecutors to pursue life sentences for those responsible.
If you are old enough to murder someone, you’re old enough to be charged as an adult. Hopefully they put those responsible in the slammer for life.
— Erich Cervantez (@erichcervantez) November 10, 2023
It’s unclear if authorities intend to pursue charges with hate crime enhancements in the matter. Lewis was white, while most of his attackers in the video were black.
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