'Horrific Crime': 7 Arrested in AZ Teen's Beating Death at Halloween Party

the loss of a child is unimaginable for most of us but to live it is a whole new level of horror multiple suspects including minors are indicted on murder charges after a teenager is killed it's a major update that Preston Lords family has been waiting for for months we sit down with members of project Lily an anti- teen violence advocacy group following the case and the push to use Preston's untimely death as a way to do good in the community welcome to s bar presented by law on crime I'm Jesse Weber we now have a stunning seven people indicted in the murder of a 16-year-old Arizona boy this coming months after he was killed following a Halloween party now of those seven four are adults three are minors being charged as adults in Maro Maricopa County they're all facing various counts of first deegree murder alternatively second deegree murder as well as kidnapping and aggravated robbery but to get a better sense of this we have to go back we have to start with October 30th 2023 and that is when 16-year-old Preston Lord died in the hospital after apparently being attacked by multiple people outside of a party in Queen Creek Arizona 2 days prior reportedly found in a roadway at almost 1 p.m. we're talking traumatic brain injuries now while the me the medical examiner has ruled this as a homicide a cause of death has not been officially released here's actually Rachel Mitchell the Maricopa County attorney talking a little bit more about this since then too many people have complained that nothing was happening and the family heard that to you I say directly you could not have been more wrong from the night of the incident the Queen Creek police department has spent hundreds of hours piecing together an extremely complex case that involved dozens of potential players either suspects Witnesses or other individuals with knowledge likewise my team has invested hundreds of hours logging and reviewing evidence you've heard me say before that the police reports numbered in the thousands of pages and that there were more than 600 pieces of video evidence that my prosecutors watched over and over and over so you can get a sense of the breath of this investigation and why it took so long the county attorney's office says that it was actually the theft of an inexpensive gold chain allegedly only worth around $10 that allegedly set all of this in motion Preston and his friends allegedly tried to get back that necklace that was taken and a fight breaks out Preston and his friends ran away but the attackers allegedly chased them down the street and according to prosecutors after the killing the suspects worked together to try to destroy EV evidence Talon vigil treston Billy Dominic Turner Taylor Sherman William Hines Talon rener and Jacob neisner are all being held on a $1 million Bond they've all been charged in this case and now there have been reports although it is unconfirmed let me make that clear unconfirmed that some of the suspects May have ties to a gang known as the Gilbert goons this gang had reportedly carried out multiple attacks against teenagers in the past year or so in Gilbert Arizona and other suburbs of Phoenix but again to be clear the association between these suspects and this alleged gang is unconfirmed police and prosecutors say though that this is just the beginning and that there could be more arrests as the investigation continues to talk more about this I want to bring in three special guests I'm joined by andu set Chris Brennan and Angela Rogers they are from Project Lily this is an organization whose goal is to dismantle this unfortunate cycle that we see of Tina violence across this country I want to thank all of you for coming on um I think the most appropriate place to start is was this started in response to the Preston Lord case was this organization started because of that uh we actually started at Waterfield uh we did an ala post calling out ala for letting Talon Runner play uh after he confessed that following Monday that he had killed a kid and stomped his head in the ground um what ended up happening happening is that a group of us came together and started to share stories connect pieces together and we realize there was a lot of corruption there's this gang the Gilbert goons um and many other things going on just not in Queen Creek but in Gilbert and Chandler as well so this project Lily um was formed uh in November by these amazing people in our community we fought every day try and and this we do the Town Council meetings we go to Chandler Unified School District meetings Gilbert unified school district meetings and we're trying to reach out to other districts as well um but project Lily was formed um and we named IT project Lily because it matches with Preston Lord's initials PL and it we're dedicated to dismantling the cycle of teenon on team Violence by fostering a culture of understanding respect and proactive engagement among young individuals we are committed to enlightening the youth about the profound impact of their actions on peers and communities and advocating for empathy and nurturing the courage to stand up against violence through education awareness campaigns and peer-led initiatives project Lily aims to transform bystanders into upstanders and Empower them to create safe and supportive um in inclusive environments and that's great work that you do um talk to me about the what the community is feeling regarding what happened here because you know this is a very high-profile case um and I could also sense kind of a frustration that it took some long for there to be arrests and indictments I mean this happened back in October we're now talking about indictments in March but talk to me about uh what the feeling is like right now in the community there there's a sense of relief in that um there are seven the these seven kids have the reality is they they're young men sorry these these young these young men have been at least charged and we we still have to get through the whole judicial process to get a conviction but as far as the the community is concerned at least in those first steps there is the relief in addition to that there's also a lot of awareness that's been raised um we've really started to peel back that onion to see this wasn't just a one-off you know it wasn't just an accident or anything like that this this actually is organized bullying uh what what we have learned as a community is that there is a group of kids who can act with impurity um because or excuse me impunity because they know the larger group will help them and because they have that large group behind them they can and they do get away with a lot which is why their actions and ended up leading them to murdering Preston um over what we are saying is a $10 necklace it has nothing to do with that necklace it has to do it it has nothing uh it has everything to do with organized bullying and if nothing's done about this sort of behavior there will be more Prestons whatever the reason how you so so as I me as I mentioned before the Gilbert there is an alleged association between the suspects and the Gilbert goons this this reported gang you're saying are you saying that they are a part of it because again it has been it hasn't been substantiated it hasn't been confirmed at least in the court records that they're a part of this but you believe they're a part of this this gang yes yes absolutely um we we do know the um one of the asants that was arrested um had posted even uh previously on a u like a some sound bit account um and it was about Gilbert goons there was a wrap out there and um so yes so they have been bragging about being the Gilbert goons um for a well over a year now even longer than that have you been given any explanation about why it took so long for there to be arrests uh and indictments in this case have we been given any reason yeah any reason I mean I understand you are part of following this case and I know I feel like there's been a little bit of frustration on the part of law enforcement why it took so long but as you can heard from the county attorney there was so much information and materials and videos 600 videos I believe to go through so it's not surprising that it took a while but has there been a sense of frustration in the community that there were an arrests in Preston Lord's case until months later yes yeah absolutely and go ahead Angela if you want to say something let me I just want to say okay um yes absolutely so you know and when we take a step back and we look at the situation as a whole now that we're on the other side and we have these seven arrests four months doesn't feel very long but as we all learned every waking moment this it it was very much dra drug out and those four months during those four months just felt like it was taking forever but part of the reason the reason why it felt like it was taking forever was because it was the reality is this case there was minimal media coverage uh minimal minimal Talk Amongst law enforcement um we weren't being reassured by our leaders that um we had this murder and that we were not being reassured that this community is safe and so for some for for teenagers to take someone's life there's anger that needs to be addressed that we were not aware of in our community um and so at those four months felt like forever and for the teens that had to sit in school in classes with some of these murderers because they did go to school their parents did send them to school and they went to school with our with our kids and our kids did not feel safe um and and so so in that respect the four months absolutely took forever because we did not feel protected by our leaders and we did not we certainly haven't felt protected by law enforcement and Angela I know you wanted to jump in on there basically the same thing that she said except for you know just to add on that that the lack of communication uh was huge and it was heard throughout all of the the cities and we it is very difficult when our entire Community is hearing what went on and in in the police aren't joining with us and trying to navigate this we just felt very left alone felt very unheard and we're talking about kids we're not talking about a 40-year-old woman we're talking about a 16-year-old boy that hasn't even graduated high school yet you know this is a kid that just got his driver's license we all remember being 16 years old and finally having that freedom to go drive it's all he he went to do is to go be a 16-year- old kid and his life was taken from him but I was going to ask I mean and I don't know um which one of you had done this but did did you speak to Preston Lord's stepmom on the phone recently uh about how what's been going on and how she's feeling we we speak with her on a regular basis oh you do and how how is she doing how is the family doing well well it's understand under an intense amount of grief and utumn and Nick are doing their best to PR this and go through grief with their daughter Melissa the bonus mom has just been a remarkable woman I don't think I've ever met a stronger woman than her I mean she gets my emotions going because she has held this family up and she has embrac the entire community and she is fighting for her son when but she's okay doing the best she can when you speak of when you speak to her yeah I was going to say like did what did you learn about Preston that we don't know about what was he like oh my goodness great question go ahead Angela a he was just an amazing kid okay like Not only was he smart and he excelled in academics um he'd even gotten an award last year uh just so great in his academics he was an athlete he played Sports basketball um football and golf um he was close with his his niece who was uh 19 months younger younger than him they were best friends but he was also best friends with his sister um he was very close to his community and anytime I do talk to anybody that knew Preston because I did not unfortunately know him prior um he's he he helped he helped every single person he took time out if you needed the door open he'd open the door if you needed a tire change and he didn't know how to do it he'd figured it out with you he just was that kid that he was an automatic friend to everybody this is such a scary case and it makes you think about how unpredictable the world can be particularly if you get hurt that comes out of nowhere and if you find yourself injured and in need of a lawyer the last thing you want to think about at that time is where do I even look where do I even start that is why I want to talk about attorney Tom and Associates our sponsor here on sidebar whether you were hurt or injured in a car wreck a Refinery explosion the victim of Securities fraud maybe you received a notification that your information was included in a data breach maybe got sick because of a drug or toxic exposure and there 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pinned in the comments for a free consultation or dial 855 Tom Wentz I want to I want to Circle back to something that we talked about um and and let's be clear right the individuals who were arrested they will have their day in court they will be put on a defense they are innocent until proven guilty but there are arrests and there is evidence put forward against them having said that yes one of the things that I think is interesting about this case is that officers were alerted to this area about 45 minutes earlier in the night at about 9 07 p.m. they see this large group of teens juveniles um they didn't see anything criminal though they didn't see anything to Warrant a stop and then they're called to the scene later on what can you tell us about that and whether or not that is something that has been a a source of uh criticism of the law of law enforcement in the community so I would just say something about that is I talked at the uh Queen Creek city council meeting and um you know I had seen videos where there were just cars blocking driveways um and if the police were going in and out like you could not notice that there were over 2 200 and something kids in this area there if there was an emergency you couldn't get in or out of that area and it just seems so odd that this was missed like you got there and nothing was going on like you wouldn't even want to check it out or and then you left and you came back and this is what you found um it just seems very odd that's that's a puzzle piece that's missing um and now the Queen Creek Police they um are a new police department so now they have a homicide and you know this is all new to them I mean they they've done the best that they can but I think that what really hurt the community is that there was just no communication even when there's nothing going on about the case just say something and let the citizens know hey this is what we're working on this is what we're doing and this is what our goal is you there was no communication sometimes for weeks and it was like we as a group had to come to City Council meetings come to school boards and everything and just try to pull out information give us a report like let us know you're still working you know so well well well I also my understand my understanding was also there's a ton of misinformation that was coming out online about this which is a a problem in the community correct me if I'm wrong but I read that a 17-year-old was falsely accused as being one of the The Killers and he was threatened because someone posted the wrong address online I mean I don't know if you know about that but I I've been reading about how there hasn't been a lot of inform you know like you said information coming out from law enforcement that we've seen kind of these rumors and and untruths coming out online yeah we are aware of that um of that 17-year-old um you know we are it is unfortunate that um that that 17-year-old was I believe he was threatened um however that is that truly what the reason truly how we got how did we get there how H how did it happen um it goes back to that lack of communication um the we're hearing about the Gilbert goons one thing that when as project Lily started to get up and running the thing that we started to learn about was that the these these young men um have been going around to various places um to to public establishments and they have been beating beating these kids and they they jump them from behind they show up in carloads they beat the kids and then and then the the community is left to pick up the pieces but these Gilbert goons more over they recorded their fights they posted them online the they posted they they filmed their any police interaction and they were bragging about their police interaction um and so the the message that that gave the community was that the police didn't they they they weren't doing anything and so as humans we tend to start to fill in those blanks when those blanks are not filled in for us and so the what has been called doxing um the in fact we have a very good friend of ours was charged with doxing and and and in reality that man he did not dox he did not threaten to he didn't nobody threat nobody that part of our organization asked anybody to go to anybody's house and to be a vigilante if there there were addresses posted in private groups that we were not a part of but again this is all a result of the police and our leaders not communicating to us um when we needed them in the time in this time of Crisis which is another region project Lily was formed because somebody anybody needed to help start healing the community because we are hurting and and tragedies like this can and do break communities apart and we can no longer be divided violence is an issue that affects everybody it doesn't matter your political party it doesn't matter how much money you have or or not money the the bottom line is is this affects everybody and again we need responsible leaders that will talk to us and be accountable it's okay to make mistakes we just have to own those mistakes learn from them and move forward and be better and always do better and that kind of ties into something that we were talking about before about the circumstances of this we mentioned how the necklace might have been kind of a a clue in the case as to what happened but you were making the point that the necklace is not even the issue here it's more about teen violence in general but with respect to Preston himself and the specif specific circumstances of that case of what happened to him do you have any more information about what the beef was about who the necklace belonged to how that situation unfolded or are we just you know still trying to get more information from law enforce law enforcement ourselves we are still trying to get more information from law enforcement we we we have an idea um who we believe that the necklace belonged to um but that's we we can't confirm that right now and also out of respect for that victim obviously um they're just known as victim number two gotcha okay but but my I do my understanding is did you speak with the teenagers who who gave Preston or CPR at the party who were actually might have been able to um keep them alive for several days or two days I should say did you speak with them we we all got a chance to speak with them and they are true heroes um the I always believe that there is divine order and these kids um unfortunately there was a suicide that happened at their high school and so all of their events got cancelled and so they found out that was this party that was coming up and so they drove 45 minutes to Queen Creek like they are not even near this area and so they drove to the party and they were saying that they went in to get one of their friends and they came out and it was where they found Preston and these were lifeguards and they took action and there was one kid that told us that he stood guard kind of behind the mailbox to make sure that no one else came in to attack them or anything and um I truly believe this is what I believe and I just have to accept this that they gave Preston just enough life so that he could get medical help that he needed so that his family could give the proper goodbye that his family didn't have to find him or anyone have to find him on the street not alive and um I believe they gave him that that source of life and um just that these kids kids just took action yeah I mean they were true American heroes and we they special boys they are so special so and they're very very polite and the parents of those boys should be absolutely proud because um they didn't know Preston Preston didn't know them and you know they did CPR on him and and gave him life did they give you any I mean first of all just heartbreaking to think about um and yes true heroes to be able to jump in like that it's it's incredible to think about this happening to a 16-year-old boy um for such a it makes no sense um did they give you any indication about what state Preston was in you know there's been conflicting reports as I mentioned before there's been no cause of death officially released did they give any indication about what state he was in it was very bad it was a very bad situation and the just the fact that these are you know Juniors that they just took action they said you know we're we're lifeguards and you know we we didn't expect to do this at a party we expected to you know do it at a pool or something that's what we were trained but you know we knew that he needed help and that's just how we helped them well I have to tell you first of all it's just a horrific crime um we are now entering into a different stage of this process and we'll follow where it goes but the work that you three are doing uh with project Lily is so important um unfortunately we cover these kinds of cases across the nation it's really disheartening to see um but I want to wish you all the best of luck um an Chris Angela if you could tell everybody real quick if they want to support project Lily or they want to get more involved and um you know uh fighting against teen on teen violence what would you Advocate that they do but we we have a couple ways that you can get in touch with us we have our website which is www we.org uh right now we are it it it's a basic website but you can put your email address in and um and we can keep in touch with you as well in addition to that we have events I'll let Angela talk about that but what we are going to be putting on events uh every month basically to help support and raise money for victims and our and our cause but one thing I really want to talk about is if people are here local in the Chandler School area we have a petition to recall our the Chandler Unified School Board president um we are we are demanding better leadership and no more bullying in our schools she's not on the same page as us so if people want to come out and sign a petition again uh look for us uh either on our website hopefully we get events there and um we have our Facebook page as well which is Lily Waterfield that people can follow us on go ahead we're all orange shirts orange is the color orange is the color Angela uh yeah our events that we have coming up uh March 24th we have an upstander Spring Festival AR honoring Preston Lord um that's off of Rancho Del Pacifico Bel Vista rigs in Gilbert Arizona uh that's going to be from 2 pm to 6 PM we also have a glow walk for teens that is the the Loc to be determined but it's April 12th or no I'm sorry it's April 13th that we are doing the glow walk um we have a summit on April 20th uh that's that is a um Summit that's meant to bring young kids and parents together to learn more about social media the impact of social media teen on teen violence um and many other great resources that teenagers face and so we're looking we're starting at about third I believe third or fourth grade registration to 8th grade so we're hoping that uh kids and parents will go to the summit they'll get they'll get a plethora of information um they'll do some some workshops and then come together at the end speaking the same language and that's that's just the first step in combating this teen on teen violence um we're going to have a lot more events coming up but one of the biggest events that we have that's always going to be reoccurring is is the 28th of the of every month we will always have a night the light walk for Preston Lord um we will be doing that every month until we get con a conviction that's great and people can donate money to our cause we are a nonprofit it is a we are a 501c yep and so they can um if they want to do donate money please we need as much money as we can um we need sponsors and everything well I tell you I think after the conversation and after people hear more about what you're doing and maybe informed about the problem that's happening uh not just in Arizona but in across the country uh you'll hopefully get that kind of support that you're looking for but uh listen an Chris Angela really appreciate you coming on talking a little bit more about the case talking a little bit more about uh project Lily we very much appreciate it thank you we appreciate you all right that's all we have for here on sidebar everybody thank you so much for joining us please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcast I'm Jesse Weber speak you next [Music] time

Channel: Law&Crime Network

Views: 68,538

Keywords: law and crime, law and crime network

Id: ZGZk9gZ0jO8

Length: 29min 38sec (1778 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 12 2024