LAS VEGAS (TCD) — A 17-year-old high school student died Monday after he was beaten by a large group of peers who caused him “substantial bodily injury,” which led him to being put on life support.
According to Las Vegas Metro Police, on Nov. 1 at 2:05 p.m., officers responded to the 1900 block of Searles Avenue after receiving reports about a fight. The incident occurred near a school, and officials administered CPR on the unconscious teen. Medics transported him to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.
KLAS-TV identified the victim as 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis and said the fight occurred close to Rancho High School.
Las Vegas Metro Police said in the news release that investigators determined Lewis had been involved in a fight with 15 other people prior to officers arriving at the scene.
KLAS reports Lewis died several days after the attack when he was taken off life support. The coroner determined his cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries.
Lewis’ father, who is also named Jonathan Lewis, wrote on his son’s GoFundMe page, “We have been given a statement from our son’s girlfriend that what occurred was that 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 by them. He’s a courageous young man.”
Jonathan Lewis the father said he and his family “denounce violence as a means to resolve sociological conflict, we believe community members can coexist peacefully, and we love our son and all children with all our hearts.”
The Las Vegas Metro Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating.
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