An Ohio teenager was found beaten to death in the parking lot of the LeBron James-founded I Promise School after having allegedly driven around shooting a water gun at people.
On Thursday, Ethan Liming, 17, was found dead on the grounds of the school located in Akron, Ohio. The cause of death is listed as blunt force head trauma.
“Ethan was everything, he was a good boy, he was a smart boy. He loved life. He loved living life. He wanted to be friends with everybody,” Ethan’s mother, Jennifer Liming, told the Akron Beacon Journal. “Ethan didn’t see color, he saw hearts. He was just such a good person.
LeBron James tweeted his condolences to Liming’s family earlier this week:
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
According to Ethan’s father, Bill Liming, his son, and three other friends, one white and two black, went to the parking lot near the I Promise School to plan the rest of their evening.
It was there that, according to Liming, his son and his friends encountered four other individuals – three black males and one black female. The two groups engaged in what Liming described as “horseplay.”
“Teenagers were being teenagers,” Bill told the Akron Beacon Journal. “I don’t want to say too much about the investigation. But apparently some of his friends who were with him were fooling around in the parking lot and some other people didn’t like it.”
Liming then says that his son exited a vehicle to defuse the situation but was attacked by a member of the other group. A second member of that group then struck his son in the back of the head, Liming claims.
“He was fighting back for his life. A third individual came up behind him and overwhelmed him. And they knocked him out on the ground. His friends tried to help him,” he said.
“My son Ethan Liming was murdered by three African American males and a female who stood by and did nothing,” Bill Liming asserted.
Akron police say they have no evidence that race played a role in the assault and subsequent death of Ethan Liming but will add additional charges if such evidence is found.
“There were assumptions made that this was a race-related incident,” Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett said at a press conference on Wednesday. “There is nothing that we have in our possession right now, any information at all indicating race played a role in this homicide. Nothing.
“I want to reassure the community that if we do receive information that race played a role in this, as in any homicide, we will consult with our prosecuting attorneys and add additional charges,” the chief added.
“It was a senseless act of violence in our city yet again,” Mylett told the media. “We have a lot of work to do in this city as the country does at large.”
Police believe that Ethan Liming and his friends fired a SplatRBall Water Bead Blaster at people before the deadly assault that claimed Ethan’s life.
Bill Liming, a local church pastor, delivered remarks that suggest he’s unconvinced that race played no role in the assault.
“We live in a sick world. People look at each other based on the color of skin or the fact somebody disagrees with somebody else.
“And because you disagree with me, you must be evil. And we have so dehumanized each other in our society — that’s why my son was murdered,” Bill Liming told the Beacon Journal.
The I Promise School, founded by LeBron James and supported by the LeBron James Foundation, opened in 2018.
LeBron James at the opening of the I Promise School in 2018 (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Akron police have made no arrests and are seeking the public’s help for information that could lead to the arrest of Ethan Liming’s killers.
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