Jzamir Keys, right, is seen smiling during a court appearance on murder charges in the death of retired police chief Andy Probst. Left: Jesus Ayala smiles ad Probst’s family members as he leaves the courtroom. (Screengrabs via KLAS.)
The two teens accused of killing a retired police chief by running him down as he rode his bike appeared to smirk their way through a court appearance — and smile directly at the victim’s family members who were there.
Jzamir Keys, 16, and Jesus Ayala, 18, are charged with murder in the death of Andy Probst, 64, a retired police chief from California. As Law&Crime previously reported, Keys and Ayala allegedly crashed a stolen car they were driving into Probst as he rode down a residential street in Las Vegas, Nevada, in August.
According to local CBS affiliate KLAS, Ayala and Keys appeared to smile at the widow and daughter of Probst during a court appearance on Tuesday.
“They started trying to intimidate us, mad dog us,” the victim’s daughter Taylor Probst said, KLAS reported. “These guys, they did not respect the court whatsoever.”
As video from the KLAS report shows, Keys and Ayala appeared to communicate with each other during the hearing, covering their faces at times and apparently laughing at one point.
“It shows that they really have no remorse, that this is just a game to them,” Taylor Probst told the station. “Like they don’t, they really don’t care if anyone else lives or dies. They don’t care about themselves if they live or die.”
The victim’s daughter said that she believed that “a multitude of different people failed” the teens, most of all their parents.
Ayala had previously boasted to a Las Vegas police officer that he didn’t expect to face any consequences for Probst’s death.
According to Las Vegas Fox affiliate KVVU, Ayala reportedly said that he would get no more than a “slap on the wrist.”
“You think this juvenile s— is gonna do some s—? I’ll be out in 30 days. I’ll bet you,” Ayala allegedly remarked, according to police.
Probst was riding his bicycle around 6 a.m. on Aug. 14 when he was struck from behind in a vehicle police say was stolen by Ayala and Keys. The former police chief from the city of Bell, California, went flying off of his bike, rolled over the hood of the car and slammed into the pavement some 96 feet away, police said. He was taken to a hospital and later died there.
The moments before and during the horrifying collision were recorded by one of the teens from inside the car. The footage was posted online and quickly went viral. They could be heard laughing and saying, “hit his a–” before honking at Probst and striking him. As they sped away, the teens could be heard saying that he looked unconscious.
Keys and Ayala will be charged as adults. They are also believed to have struck a different cyclist, a 72-year-old man, with the stolen car as well. That man survived.
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report.
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