UPDATE: The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrested eight suspects in the fatal beating of Jonathan Lewis Jr. Read more.
LAS VEGAS – A high school student in Las Vegas is dead after he was brutally beaten by a group of approximately 15 attackers. What proved to be a fatal beatdown occurred on Wednesday, Nov. 1 in the 1900 block of Searles Avenue near Rancho High School. The student died less than a week later, according to reports.
The victim was identified as 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis, Jr. He was a student at Rancho High School in North Las Vegas. The teen’s father, Jonathan Lewis Sr., confirmed his son’s death. The boy succumbed to his injuries after being placed on life support and was pronounced dead at University Medical Center on Tuesday, Nov. 7, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The grieving dad said his son lived in Las Vegas with his mother, though the teen planned to move to live with him in Austin, Texas, according to 8 News Now.
Lewis Sr. also expressed disappointment in the fight that led to the death of his son, saying that “children don’t even know what they’re doing half the time.”
Jonathan Lewis, Jr. (Family photo via Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Lewis Sr. said he loves his children “with all my heart” and called it “unimaginable” that such violence “could ever come to this point.”
“I hope there’s a way they can find forgiveness in their heart and find a way to be able to come to terms with what they’ve done,” he said.
The victim’s family has been told by investigators that murder charges are pending against several students involved in the deadly encounter, Lewis Sr. said.
According to the New York Post, the teen was beaten by a group of bullies for coming to the defense of a “smaller” friend who was thrown into a trash can.
“One of his smaller friends had something stolen by this group of 15, and they threw the small boy in the trash can, and our son confronted them and he was attacked,” according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.
The National Conservative posted video from the deadly battering.
The Las Vegas Metro Police Department’s homicide unit is investigating the case, though no arrests have been made so far and no information has been released to the media, Fox News reported.
Lewis Sr. said he hopes his son’s death can be part of a conversation around youth violence in the city.
