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.
Approved ~ FS
