Mesa police ask for help to identify suspect in a teen 'Gilbert Goons' attack
The Mesa Police Department is asking for the public's help identifying a person connected to a May 29, 2023, attack on a teen in a park near Val Vista Drive and Pueblo Avenue.
Two people have already been arrested in connection with the attack: Christopher Fantastic, 18, and a 17-year-old whose home, according to interviews with neighbors, was among those searched by police in connection with the Oct. 28 fatal beating of 16-year-old Preston Lord in Queen Creek.
The arrests followed an investigation by The Arizona Republic that found the "Gilbert Goons," a gang of mostly affluent teenagers, had engaged in a string of attacks on other teens in the southeast Valley for more than a year.
The image released by police is the best still that could be pulled from a video of the attack, said Detective Brandi Myers, a Mesa police spokesperson.
The person in the image wears a dark, long-sleeved shirt and shorts.
A video clip of the attack shows a crowd of teenagers around a boy on the ground who is being hit repeatedly by a teen standing over him. As the pummeling continues, another boy — the one police are asking for help to identify — appears to kick at the victim. The clip is less than 10 seconds long.
Mesa police want anyone with information about the person pictured to call the department at 480-644-2211.
Reach the reporter at marcus.reichley@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mesa police ask for help to identify suspect in a teen 'Goons' attack
