Queen Creek, Arizona police are seeking criminal charges against seven "adults and juveniles" in the beating death of 16-year-old Preston Lord.
The criminal referrals come two months to the day after Lord was attacked and left lying in the street during a Halloween party in an upscale Queen Creek neighborhood. He died two days later, on Oct. 30.
Parents, students and activists in Gilbert, Queen Creek and San Tan Valley say Lord was the victim of a gang of affluent teenagers known as the "Gilbert Goons."
An investigation by The Arizona Republic found the Goons recorded themselves carrying out random assaults in mall parking lots, outside fast-food restaurants, at parks and at house parties. The Goons had engaged in a string of blitz-style attacks on other teens in the southeast Valley for more than a year, according to interviews, court and police records, and social media posts.
Gilbert, which in early December publicized its ranking as the second-safest big city in the U.S., was a hub for Goons' attacks, according to reports by victims and their families. But Gilbert police never connected the assaults, even those in the same location, to the Goons or any other group.
Lord was a popular student at Combs High School in nearby San Tan Valley, where he served on the student council and played basketball, football and golf.
The response to his death grew from grief to frustration, even outrage, that no arrests were made. As part of a grassroots movement called #Justice4Preston, community members staged a 2-mile march in November and increasingly demanded answers from town officials.
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