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Stepmom of teen killed at school founded by LeBron James is desperate for accountability

June 7, 2022 | | Print Article

(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.

“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.”

“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.

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.

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.”

Kevin Haggerty
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