Akron police: Deadly beating of teen in parking lot of I Promise School stemmed from gel gun altercation

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Authorities stated Wednesday that the lethal beating of 17-year-old Ethan Liming final week stemmed from an altercation over a gel gun within the car parking zone of the I Promise Faculty in Akron.

Liming, of Akron, was pronounced useless after the assault on the college on West Market Road, close to Crosby Road, police stated. Liming was discovered unconscious within the car parking zone close to the college’s basketball courts.

Police introduced that detectives discovered that a number of individuals in Liming’s automobile shot a gel comfortable gun at objects and presumably individuals as they drove by means of town, police stated. The plastic weapons fireplace a comfortable, gel capsule that’s full of water. They typically trigger minor irritation.

The group of teenagers pulled into the college car parking zone and drove straight on the basketball courtroom.

“The teenagers then appeared to have focused or approached the topics who had been on the courtroom and fired the gel comfortable gun at them,” police stated in an announcement. “The collective actions of the teenagers within the automobile seem to have sadly provoked the altercation.”

Liming and his buddies obtained right into a struggle with not less than three different males on the courtroom. Liming was knocked unconscious throughout the struggle and “brutally assaulted,” police stated. His buddies rushed residence and known as 911.

Police say there isn’t a proof at this level that implies the incident “was in any means, racially motivated,” the assertion stated.

“Ethan Liming was a younger man with a full life forward of him, and that shiny future was senselessly taken from him in probably the most brutal of how,” Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan stated within the assertion. “Such a violence in our neighborhood has ripple results that contact every individual, together with myself, in profound methods, and I do know town of Akron is in mourning due to this super loss.”

There isn’t a justification for Liming’s homicide, the mayor additional stated, and urged anybody with data to come back ahead.

Liming didn’t should lose his life, Akron police Chief Stephen Mylett stated.

“We mourn his loss and grieve alongside the Liming household and all these Ethan touched throughout his 17 years of life,” the chief stated within the assertion. “As with each murder on this metropolis, the Akron Police Division will observe each lead and do the whole lot inside our energy to deliver the suspects to justice.”