Four Las Vegas high school students were charged Friday as adults with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of a classmate in November. The fight was recorded on cell phone video and shared widely on social media.
Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said in court that the indictment also charges the teens with conspiracy to commit assault, a felony.
The Associated Press is not naming the students because they were juveniles at the time of the Nov. 1 assault.
Stopping or standing on a Las Vegas Strip bridge could result in jail time
Nine students have been arrested so far in connection with the attack that left 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis Jr. dead. Giordani said other students are awaiting separate hearings.
Las Vegas police said 10 students, ages 13 to 17, took part in the after-school assault in an alley around the corner from Rancho High School. Law enforcement officials announced Friday that investigators were continuing to search for a 10th suspect.
In the aftermath, students, teachers and staff were left to deal with how a fight over stolen vape pens and wireless headphones escalated.
Here is a memorial to Jonathan Lewis Jr. that was installed on November 21, 2023 in an alley near Rancho High School in East Las Vegas. Lewis Jr. was bludgeoned to death by 10 of his classmates, four of whom will now be charged as adults with second-degree murder. (AP Photo/Ty O’Neal, File)
Police said Lewis was walking to an alley with a friend after school, but they do not believe he was the target.
According to Lt. Jason Johanson, cell phone video shows Lewis taking off his shirt to prepare for a fight, before 10 students “immediately swarmed Lewis and tackled him to the ground.” He pulled her down and started kicking, punching and stomping her.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
After the fight, a neighbor found Lewis badly beaten and unconscious and brought him to campus, where school staff called 911 and tried to help, Johansson said.
In Nevada, teens charged with murder can be charged as adults if they were 13 or older at the time of the crime.
