8 teenagers charged with murder for enslaving 17-year-old classmate to death

Eight Nevada high school students were arrested this week on murder charges in connection with the death of a 17-year-old boy who was knocked unconscious during an after-school fight this month, Las Vegas police said.

The beaten boy, Jonathan Lewis Jr., a student at Rancho High School, died from his injuries several days after the Nov. 1 attack, Las Vegas police said at a meeting. press conference Tuesday.

The fight may have started over a stolen pair of headphones, police Lt. Jason Johansson said. The students planned to meet after classes that day in an alley less than 100 yards from campus, he said.

An investigation led police to identify eight Rancho High School students involved in the fight, Lt. Johansson said. They were arrested on Tuesday. Their ages range from 13 to 17, he said, adding that police were working to identify two other people who may have been involved in the fight.

The eight students, who were not publicly identified, were booked into the Clark County Juvenile Hall, police said. It could not be determined whether they had lawyers.

It was unclear exactly how Jonathan became involved in the battle. The boy’s family said on one website that Jonathan was “trying to help a smaller child who was being bullied.” His family did not immediately respond to phone calls Wednesday.

Lt. Johansson said police believe the headphones, and possibly a vape pen, were stolen from a friend of Jonathan’s. Once Jonathan was involved in the fight, the lieutenant said, “10 subjects immediately swarmed him, put him on the ground and started kicking, punching and stomping him.”

While Jonathan was on the ground, Lt. Johansson said, he “did not defend himself” and was beaten “to the point where he became unconscious.”

Videos of the fight circulating on social media show several people exchanging blows. Police Undersheriff Andrew Walsh described the videos as “extremely disturbing.” Lt. Johansson said the video was “very graphic.”

He added: “And in my opinion very little humanity.”

After the fight, Jonathan was found “unconscious and unresponsive” in the alley, and someone carried him to Rancho High School, Lt. Johansson said. He was taken to a hospital, where shortly after arrival he was diagnosed with “non-survivable head trauma.”

Six days after the fight, on Nov. 7, Jonathan’s family said he had been declared medically brain dead and a decision had been made to donate his organs, the lieutenant said. An autopsy conducted by the Clark County coroner’s office determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.

It was unclear whether the accused teens could be tried as adults. Under Nevada state lawminors over the age of 14 can be certified to be tried as adults if charged with a crime, including murder. The Clark County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on whether it would seek to prosecute them as adults.

At Tuesday’s news conference, Lt. Johansson was asked whether those charged with murder could also be charged with hate crimes because Jonathan was white and many of the students in the videos were black. Lt. Johansson said there was no evidence so far to indicate the assault was a hate crime.

“It is a murder, which in my opinion is a very heinous crime,” he said.

In a letter sent to teachers and parents Tuesday, Rancho High School said the district would provide resources to those who needed support.

“This incident has and will continue to have an impact on our school community,” the letter said.

Undersheriff Walsh said the deadly encounter “should remind all of us to have those difficult conversations with our children, and remind them that their actions have consequences.”

“Their actions have lasting consequences,” he said. “Their actions have life-changing consequences.”