Las Vegas police have arrested eight high school students between the ages of 13 and 17 from the US town on charges of murder for fatally beating a classmate, authorities announced Tuesday at a news conference.
Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said investigators were still working to identify two more students believed to have been involved in the Nov. 1 fight that he said was over a pair of headphones. cordless and a vaporizer. Johansson said the local FBI office assisted with the arrests Tuesday morning. The two prominent students will also face murder charges, he said.
Authorities did not identify the students because they are minors. Johansson said he and his team are working with the local district attorney's office to determine whether they will be charged with murder as adults. Additionally, he added that the 17-year-old victim, Jonathan Lewis Jr., remained hospitalized with severe "head trauma" and other injuries until his death about a week after the fight.
The Las Vegas coroner's office ruled the beating a homicide. The fight had been prepared in advance after the victim's friend's headphones and vaporizer were stolen. Johansson said investigators believe the victim was originally not supposed to be involved in the fight, but had accompanied his friend to a nearby alley, where the fight was scheduled to end after classes ended for the day at Rancho High School in East Las Vegas.
After his death, the victim's father, Jonathan Lewis Sr., said his son was attacked while defending “one of his littlest friends,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. In the alley, the 10 students "immediately surround him, throw him to the ground and start kicking, hitting and stomping on him," Johansson said.
After the fight, he said a local "citizen" found the victim severely beaten and unconscious in the alley and took him back to campus, where school staff called 911.
