Police have detained a ninth suspect in the beating death of a 17-year-old Las Vegas high school student.
According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Jonathan Lewis died after being battered during a struggle over stolen things on the Rancho High School campus on November 1.
The ninth suspect “was arrested and booked into Clark County Juvenile Hall for open murder,” according to the press release. The culprit has yet to be identified.
“Detectives still need help identifying one outstanding person of interest in this homicide,” the police stated. “The individual was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and khaki pants.”
According to Las Vegas Police Lt. Jason Johansson, the beating occurred in an alley near the high school grounds after school had ended.
Jonathan Lewis died after being beaten when a fight broke out November 1 over stolen items near the Rancho High School campus, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police have said:
Jonathan Lewis died after being beaten when a fight broke out November 1 over stolen items near the Rancho High School campus, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police have said. https://t.co/zmGnRGqy76
— KRDO13 (@KRDO_13) November 22, 2023
“The video is very graphic and, in my opinion, is very void of humanity,” he told reporters.
Eight teens were brought into custody and “will be charged with the crime of murder,” according to Undersheriff Andrew Walsh. The suspects are Rancho High School pupils ranging in age from 13 to 17.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, some of them will be tried as adults. Because the accused were 16 or 17, the proceedings were automatically sent to adult criminal court, according to the publication.
According to the Review-Journal, the remaining accused, aged 13 to 15, will face certification hearings in family court, where a judge will decide if they will also be tried as adults.
Jonathan died six days after the beating, according to his father. According to investigators, an autopsy found that his cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Jonathan “was a loving, kind, and protective young man who cared deeply about his friends and family,” Jonathan Lewis Sr. said in a statement, adding that he “was a hero who was trying to help one of his smaller friends who was being bullied and had something stolen from him and he tried to intervene.”
According to the Team Jonathan website, Jonathan’s parents have established a foundation in his honor.
“Jonathan’s mom came up with the name Team Jonathan while we talked about starting a foundation for our son in the hospital,” according to a statement on the website.
“After holding my son’s hand in the hospital while on life support for two 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,” the statement went on to say.