‘Void of humanity’: Las Vegas police arrest 8 teens for brutal beating that resulted in death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis
Eight teenagers have been arrested in connection with the beating death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis near his Las Vegas high school on November 1. Undersheriff Andrew Walsh of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department revealed in a
Press conference Tuesday that the suspects will be charged with murder.
Walsh further indicated that the investigation into Lewis’ murder is far from over, and asked parents and students who have seen the video to help identify other members of the mob who mercilessly kicked, stomped and punched Lewis as he attempted to escape.
Lt. Jason Johansson of the LVMPD homicide section said the fatal beating took place in an alley a block east of Rancho High School after school ended. All those involved in the incident were reportedly students at the school.
“As you know, the video that has been widely shared on social media… is very graphic and, in my opinion, lacks humanity,” Johansson said. “However, what is seen in the video is approximately 10 subjects kicking, stomping and punching our victim Jonathan while he is on the ground, without defending himself, to the point where he is unconscious.”
KVVU-TV
previously reported that police found a student “beaten and bleeding from the head.”
According to police, the fight was initially over a pair of stolen wireless headphones and possibly also over a stolen vaporizer, apparently stolen earlier in the week from the victim’s friend.
“After school ended, all parties walked towards that back alley where, as seen in the video, our victim takes off his clothes, initially gets into a fight with a subject, and at the moment the punch is thrown at that person, 10 The subjects immediately pounce on him,” Johansson said.
After the mob overtook Lewis and left him with a “non-survivable head injury,” Johansson said a concerned citizen found the victim’s slumped, unconscious body lying in the alley, began treating him and then carried him away. back to school. He was subsequently transferred to the University Medical Center, where days later he died.
Lewis’ cause of death was ruled a homicide. Police suggested there is currently no evidence to suggest he committed a hate crime.
The Clark County School District and the high school reportedly helped identify the eight suspects, who were taken into custody by law enforcement officers Tuesday morning. LVMPD also executed nine search warrants at several residences, obtaining clothing allegedly worn by the suspects during the attack.
The suspects are between 13 and 17 years old. All were booked into the Clark County Juvenile Facility on charges of murder.
“The case will now be turned over to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, with whom we have been in close coordination,” Johansson continued. “We will follow the normal steps… to get them certified as adults.”
Las Vegas has seen other teenagers charged as adults in recent weeks for gruesome murders.
Jzamir Keys, 16, and Jesus Ayala, 18, were charged as adults in connection with the murder of retired police chief Andreas Probst, 64. Ayala and Keys seem to have
filmed parts of their rampageeven when they allegedly ran a white sedan off the road and then attacked Probst, the former police chief of Bell, California, to slaughter him, laughing as they did so.
“I want to say, as a parent and as a member of this community, that the video that is there and the videos that we have mentioned throughout this investigation and that you have seen in the media, are extremely disturbing.” Deputy Sheriff Walsh said. “And this should be a reminder to all of us to have those difficult conversations with our children and remind them that their actions have consequences, their actions have lasting consequences, their actions have life-altering consequences.”
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