[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
New graphic details are emerging relating to a teen that was found dead in a high school parking lot earlier this month.
Ethan Liming and his friends drove onto the grounds of I Promise School in Ohio on June 2. They were reportedly playing with plastic guns that shoot water pellets and shot them toward 3 men that were playing basketball. After this, it’s reported a fight broke out between the two groups which resulted in Liming being beaten in the parking lot. One of Ethan’s friends called the police shortly after the incident around 10:42pm. The horrified teen told dispatchers they “didn’t know what to do”:
“We’re at the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. Our friend just got knocked out. We don’t know what to do.”
Unfortunately it was too late for their friend, as he was pronounced dead at the scene less than 30 minutes later. After the death of the 17-year-old, Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack sent a tear-jerking letter to school community members expressing condolences:
“Our Akron Public Schools family expresses its deepest condolences and offers its prayers to the family and friends of a student who lost his life last night. We mourn as one for Ethan Liming.”
9 days after the beating, 3 men were arrested in relation to the crime by the United States Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force. The men were charged with homicide but pled not guilty.
Related: 16-Year-Old Cheer Captain Stabbed To Death During High School Parade
An autopsy was performed on the victim which told a harrowing story about just how cruel his fate was. The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office found that Ethan had suffered a broken optical bone that connected to the cervical spine — heartbreakingly, this is a bone that protects the brain. It was also documented that he was stomped on with such ferocity that it “left a shoe imprint” on his chest wall.
In an affidavit released in relation to the arrest, it was stated that the three men “punched and assaulted” not only the victim, but his friends as well. It said that they “beat Liming until he was unconscious on the ground” then “beat him more while he was unconscious”. Truly brutal…
I Promise School is funded by The LeBron James Family Foundation, which put out a statement saying that they were “grieving with the community” over the tragic death. LeBron himself also sent condolences to the family via Twitter, asking his followers to “pray for our community”.
Our condolences goes out to the family who lost a loved one!! My the heavens above watch over you during this tragedy! Pray for our community! ???????? https://t.co/bpq5qsoNfO
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 3, 2022
Our hearts go out to Ethan’s family and loved ones. May he rest in peace.
[Image via Liming Family/US Marshals/YouTube/News 5 Cleveland]