(Video: WEWS)
A heartbroken Ohio mother took to social media to repeatedly beg for help in identifying the killers responsible for beating her 17-year-old stepson to death Thursday night outside the school founded by the NBA’s LeBron James.
Ethan Liming was a senior at Firestone Community Learning in Akron, Ohio, whose life was cut short near the basketball court of the I PROMISE School. WEWS reported that police responded to a call about a fight in the parking lot between Liming and his friends and three unidentified males where, upon arrival, the young man was pronounced dead on the scene as a result of the beating he endured.
The LeBron James Family Foundation issued a statement on social media about the beating that is being investigated as a homicide. However, the manner in which they did so appeared to some to be more of a deflection of culpability than a commitment to their neighborhood as they asserted the incident only happened “near” their school while many media outlets reported the tragic incident happened in the school’s parking lot.
A 17-year-old Ohio boy, Ethan Liming, was killed after a fight in the parking of a school founded by Lebron James: https://t.co/nFc7SRLpxj pic.twitter.com/DXy1iBgzbr
— FOX 8 New Orleans (@FOX8NOLA) June 6, 2022
“Our community is everything to us. We were devastated to learn of the overnight incident that saw a life lost near our school. We are grieving with our community over another senseless act of violence.”
(2/2) Our @IPROMISESchool campus is safe and secure as we continue to do everything we can to support our students, families, and the entire Akron community. 💚
— LeBron James Family Foundation (@LJFamFoundation) June 3, 2022
“Our @IPROMISESchool campus is safe and secure as we continue to do everything we can to support our students, families, and the entire Akron community,” the statement continued.
The suspects had been reportedly using the basketball court on the I PROMISE School grounds and the Foundation only appeared to be doing damage control in their public comment. Unfortunately, the media was more than happy to corroborate with multiple outlets reporting the death “near” the school despite it taking place in the I PROMISE parking lot.
Since the tragedy, Cyndi Liming, Ethan’s stepmother, has continued to plea for any information that will lead investigators to the identity of the suspects behind the brutal killing of her stepson.
If you didn’t know, my step son Ethan was brutally beaten to death at the I Promise School in Akron on June 2. Anyone with information is asked to call the Akron Police Department Detective Bureau at 330-375-2490 or the Summit County Crimestoppers at 330-434-COPS. Please share. pic.twitter.com/4Rk0DF0VdZ
— Cyndi Liming (@CyndiLiming) June 4, 2022
There is at least one person besides Ethan’s killers who holds the key to ending this part of our nightmare. These posts are for you. Do the right thing. You have nothing to lose. Call detectives at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2Tip; Callers can remain anonymous. MAKE THIS VIRAL pic.twitter.com/FZqKxZTvKt
— Cyndi Liming (@CyndiLiming) June 7, 2022
Thus far, however, with all of his wealth and connections, LeBron James has only appeared to offer public condolences to the victim’s family, retweeting the statement from his foundation with the caption, “Our condolences goes out to the family who lost a loved one!! My (sic) the heavens watch over you during this tragedy! Pray for our community!”
Individuals reporting to be related to Ethan called out the basketball star and celebrity for his inaction in helping a family in his home community find closure through the justice system.
lebron, since this happened at YOUR school, i expect something greater to be done than a tweet and some prayers. my cousin deserves justice for this tragedy. i hope you will do something to make this right.
— Vita (@hersh_vita452) June 3, 2022
@KingJames like you, I’m a kid from NE Ohio. Ethan Liming is my nephew. Please help us find his killers.
— Eric Krause (@egkrause_uf) June 5, 2022
The search to identify the suspects has only been hampered by the media for failing to provide a detailed description despite eyewitness accounts from the friends of the victim. Those friends also called 911 but only a portion of the recording with the dispatcher was included in the report, “We’re at I PROMISE school in Akron, Ohio. Our friend just got knocked out. We don’t know what to do.”
WEWS claimed, “Detectives don’t have many descriptive details on the three males involved, but police believe the three males are in their late teens to early 20s.”
Ethan’s uncle, David Lang, also joined in pleading for information stating, “If anybody, anyone has any info, knows anything, please step forward. This is senseless. No reason for it at all. Please step forward. This is just ridiculous.”
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