Two teenagers have been charged after a retired police officer was killed during an alleged hit-and-run murder in Las Vegas.
The two defendants, 18-year-old Jesus Ayala and 16-year-old Jzamir Keys, appeared in court on a number of charges including murder.
The charges against the pair relate to an alleged rampage through Las Vegas on August 14, during which former police chief, Andreas ‘Andy’ Probst. was hit by a car and killed.
The spree allegedly began with a 72-year-old cyclist being struck by a Hyundai car, which then fled the scene and was crashed elsewhere.
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Then, it is alleged that the teenagers filmed themselves as they ran down Probst, who worked with the police in California, crashing deliberately into him as he rode a bicycle in the road’s designated cycle lane.
They are then alleged to have dumped the blood-stained car before stealing two other vehicles and crashing them into each other near to a shopping mall.
Ayala, who is thought to have been the driver, later reportedly bragged to police officers that he’d be back on the streets in short order.
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KLAS reports that he said: “You think this juvenile [expletive] is gonna do some [expletive]? I’ll be out in 30 days, I’ll bet you,
“It’s just ah, [expletive] ah, hit-and-run — slap on the wrist.”
Ayala was arrested on the day of the incident, and has been charged with 18 charges, including murder, attempted murder, and grand larceny, and faces a lot longer than 30 days if found guilty.
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That murder charge was not possible immediately after Ayala was arrested, as the video that purportedly shows the hit-and-run did not surface until a couple of weeks later.
Keys was arrested after Ayala on the following Tuesday, having run away during Ayala’s arrest, and has since been charged with a number of offences related to the spree and Probst’s death.
The car that was alleged to have been used in the hit-and-run was found around 10 minutes away from where Probst died.
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Both Ayala and Keys are being charged as adults.
Under Nevada law, the most severe sentence that they can receive if convicted of murder before the age of 18 is 20 years to life in state prison.
At their most recent court appearance, neither of the pair spoke at all, and neither has so far entered any plea.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said: “Justice will be served in this case.”
Tom Wood