SURPRISE, AZ — Another juvenile has been charged in connection with an April incident involving teenagers who allegedly ambushed and assaulted a 15-year-old boy in Surprise.
The Surprise Police Department said Thursday that the juvenile was identified and charged, but, due to the juvenile's age, no further information was released.
Two teenagers were previously identified in connection with the incident, which occurred on April 4th near Sarival Avenue and Greenway Road. They believe the victim was threatened at gunpoint.
“My son is just really lucky to be alive,” the victim's mother, who did not want to be identified due to safety concerns, told ABC15 when we first broke the story in April.
“They were kicking him, punching him, knocking him to the ground, stomping on him,” she said. “In the videos, I see like 11 kids fighting my son. So I have endless surveillance of this from kids just all around him, recording. Nobody was helping him, nobody was trying to intervene.”
See our previous reporting on this story in the main video player above.
The teen escaped by jumping over a wall. His mom took him to the emergency room and shared his medical documents, which show he had a concussion, head wounds, and a broken nose from the assault.
“The ER said...had he not been that tall and big and able to defend himself the way that he was, it would have been fatal. It would have been really bad for my son,” she said.
The suspects meet the criteria to be charged under Preston's Law, which was put in place following the deadly attack on Preston Lord.
The mother of the victim in this case said she is relieved Preston’s Law is being applied.
"I felt relieved that the charges were going to be that, because it is what happened to my son. He was swarmed by more than 10 individuals at this party, so I'm just relieved that that's going to be a part of this case,” she said. "Now that they're going to apply this to these teenagers, others will understand that you cannot do this. You cannot attack kids."
The investigation is ongoing, and police are working to "identify everyone involved and ensure all appropriate charges are pursued," officials say.
Police are asking anyone with information, videos, photos, or other evidence to contact 623-222-4000 or 623-222-TIPS (8477), or email crimetips@surpriseaz.gov. Please reference incident #260400178.
